Plum In the Dark
by SoundlessSleep
Summary: Remnant is a dark place, it's full of monsters, hunters, intrigue and evil. But can it handle a small plum that's fallen from the wrong tree? Recursive Crossover with Sugar Plums.
1. Prologue

Prologue

I ran my hands parallel, one real, one not, to the needle as I pushed the fabric slowly and carefully across the metal plate built into the desk. The wheels turned in time as I pushed on the paddle under the desk that pushed the contraption through the desk up and over to the inverted L that held the needle. It buzzed and spun with spools of thread as I pushed forward, almost, almost damnit.

The fabric snagged at an odd angle and I had to pull back the fabric and fix it, again. I was nearly finished with this piece too. As good as shinobi I was and with my high affinity with fabric as it was one of my main weapons, you'd think I'd be able to use a sewing machine without much trouble. But no, as I pulled it back I saw I had to pull out the stitches and rethread everything, again.

"Well shit."

In the corner I heard Minami snicker at my light cursing as she sat at her desk on the other side of the workshop we shared. The papers and seals that covered the wall and desk she worked on, a realm of paper and ink in stark contrast to the realm of screws, fabric and thread on my end.

"Why do you bother with that thing, Ume? Can't you sew just as fast with chakra?"

"As much practice as I have patching the burn holes in your clothes with my chakra, the seams are never quite straight."

I leaned forwards and Danny fidgeted from his place on my lap, the fully grown black and white tom stretching and curling into himself to make him more comfortable as I moved. I pulled up the needle and moved the metal plate so I could start to fiddle with the bobbin.

"Besides, the sewing machine does a double stitch, so it holds better."

"What does it matter, it's what, only thirty per cent khakri? Not very strong."

I caught her turning, pushing her goggles on top of her head. Those were her work goggles instead of her combat goggles, the difference being that she had taken a set and attached a pair of jeweler's magnifying glasses.

"Well no, not compared to one hundred percent, but still pretty strong. It's certainly easier to clean than ten percent."

I leaned back into my chair.

"But then, you've burned holes in fifty percent, so anything less than one hundred and you'd probably have holes in more than your chunin vest."

"Hey, it's not my fault that it couldn't take the heat."

"The chunin vests were sixty percent, with a layer of wire knit between the middle strong enough to catch kunais without a scratch and you managed to burn through it in less than a week." I replied dully.

"As I said, they should use a higher percentage if they're going to use that as armor."

"No one else CAN use higher percentages outside of the Land of Water and you know it." I rolled my eyes. "And it's not like the sewing guild is going to give that up either."

"Well, to anybody but you." Minami replied.

"I'm only a preliminary member, and that's because I made sure they kept their compound after the Mizushima fell."

As I said this I finished pulling out the stitch and restringing the bobbin before sliding down the metal plate.

"That and you're willing to test things for them to use. Speaking of testing, why are you wearing the mark three prosthetic? I gave you the seven to use last week."

I looked down at my false hand. It was a thick cylinder made mostly out of wood with some screws here or there that had been filed down to the surface, at the end of the cylinder was a ball that had attached to it had three square thick fingers with no joints that could only really open and close through the movement of the thick threads attached to the inside of the ball that went all the way down to the special attachment that was implanted onto the end of the stub of an elbow that led to what remained of my natural left arm.

"The flat palm it makes is the heaviest of all of the ones so far, and the weight helps me keep the fabric flat when I feed it through. I have the seven on me, and the six as a back up though. I haven't combat tested them yet though. Anyway, as far as fabric goes I'm working my way up. Strong as it is, it's a bugger to work with the machine. The needles keep wearing down too quickly. I think we'll have to get chakra needles as well as a feeding grip to use this on the fabric. Even then it'll take a lot of control to do."

"You can put it in the queue, cause this takes way more priority than a fancy sewing machine."

Minami held up something that I didn't immediately recognize from the distance as I had my head down. But looking up I almost tipped the table as I made it to her side. There was a burst of wind as Minami slammed her hands on her seals to prevent them from blowing away.

"Damnit Ume, would you stop doing that inside."

Danny yowled in agreement, his front paws clinging to the front of my kimono, claws knit in deep as he then climbed up my chest and onto my shoulder.

"Where did you get that?"

I reached out for the distinctive three pronged kunai, which Minami pulled back.

"Black market, took forever to sort, but after going through the records it looks like the real thing. But that's not the important part."

She reached down onto the desk and held up what she was looking at. It had been pinned and splayed onto the board. A complex array set into dizzying patterns.

I blinked as I stared at it, at a loss for the meaning but understanding the implications.

"Minami, you know what that seal's for, right?"

"Teleportation." She smiled at me, her grin splitting her face. "True teleportation, not your windy stuff. Wouldn't it be amazing if I could figure this out? Travel would be instant for everyone! Than we wouldn't have to worry about fighting the weather to transport goods."

She pulled her goggles back onto her face. "I think I can get some of the stuff down for some short ports already, though I even have some prototype ideas."

I blinked at that and let out a sigh. It would be a great improvement if she could manage that, however.

"You have to be careful with that, as great as it would be for everyone to have that power, well, everyone would have that power."

"I know, I know, I'd have to make breaker seals to put into private residences, but regardless, all the possibilities..."

"You still haven't perfected civilians using storage seals. Let alone those heating seals you created. There was also the cold seal debacle."

"No one died, and we managed to prevent that man from getting frostbite." She replied.

"But you need to slow down."

"Look, I'm being careful. This stuff is way out of my league normally but as I said, I'm only doing short distances to start, maybe a few feet at most. If it doesn't work, we'll know immediately and if it does, well I'm only bending the fabric of space and time so it shouldn't cause a tear or anything."

"Well, if you put it that way I…" I choked when my mind caught up with that. "Wait. The what?"

"The fabric of space and time, you know like in a wrinkle in time? Where they push space together."

She held up the seal.

"That's what this is, except, it's like an anchor I think it's why you need one at the place you're going, 'cause you're bending space."

"Minami, you can't even sew a straight line in normal fabric, why are you going to mess with the fabric of space and time? You didn't even know what that was until I explained the concept to you not once, but three times."

"Cause it's fun." She replied. "Besides, I can sew just fine, I fixed my own pants this time."

She pointed down at the patchy pants with the off color thread sticking out at odd places. I let out a snort, putting my hand on my face.

"You didn't even knot the ends."

I said it as I leaned down and produced a pair of scissors out of my sleeve. She moved her leg out and I started to cut at the end strands and pulled the uneven seams tighter.

"You know, if I was a guy this would look really bad if someone walked in on this."

I rolled my eyes as I leaned down and knotted the ends quickly, though not at the most neat angle. At least it wouldn't fall off as soon.

"If someone walked in on this they'd likely assume I was doing, exactly what I'm doing."

"I guess, you are the reason Hiroshi refuses to wear jackets with buttons any more after you stabbed him the first time to fix a loose one."

"That was an accident, you know it, I know it, the Water Daimyo knew it too."

I replied quickly as I looked up at Minami.

"Right, I forgot about that part, god it must have been hilarious. I have to ask Kiriko again for details or Suigetsu, he said something about some weird sound coming out of Hiroshi."

"They weren't there." I turned away. "They were just in the same building, is all."

I finished the knot and stood up.

"Anyway, be careful. Also, get Mitsuki in here to check your damn math."

"She's running the clinic today cause Kyoko's visiting the stones today." Minami replied.

I let out a sigh, right the stones. It took some time after the last civil war, but eventually a monument was made to the casualties of the war, collectively known as the stones. Before, such honor was reserved only for shinobi, but after doing a log of the civilian casualties we decided to do the same. It wasn't formal or glossy, it was really just a large stone cut and carved, but it was there and it was a reminder of what war cost for this country, not just for the shinobi, but for everyone.

"Right, it's that time, isn't it."

I let out another sigh. It had been about a year since the end of the war. It seemed like such a short amount of time, but a lot had happened.

"Seriously, don't test it before Mitsuki looks at it."

I walked back to my sewing machine and lined up the fabric again and started on the pattern. It was a relatively simple dress that I was making with undyed cloth (which was cheaper to use), but working with the fabric to get the kinks out. I'm not sure how much time had passed as I struggled with the fabric to try and get a straight consistent seam without constantly breaking the needles.

It was only when I heard the sound of a chair falling that I looked up and saw Minami standing up and backing away, her chair abandoned as I looked at what she was staring at.

"Wha…"

I heard the wind shift as I focused on what had happened. Pressed against a practice dummy was a piece of paper, which glowed for a few seconds before something started to crack in front of it. The wind shift was a sucking motion that was forming around the paper. It started to get louder and the crack in the space of the paper started to expand. Danny, who was perched on my shoulders decided that the only safe and sane place was in my top and jumped down into it.

"Shit.."

I got up from the desk and whipped out a hand. Out of my sleeve several needles flew attached to thread that I used to will their path wide. I was aiming to tear the seal on the paper, the only surefire way to break the circuit and stop whatever the seal was doing.

But the wind going into the seal became stronger and pulled the threads in one by one, reeling out of my arm and into the abyss opening. Paper was flying everywhere, by this point being sucked in, the chair going as well. I had to stick my feet to the floor and put my hand onto the metal desk, which was screwed into the stone floor, as more and more kept flying through the expanding hole.

"THE HELL DID YOU DO!"

I was enhancing my voice to be heard over the racket.

Minami was clinging to her own desk, it was stone and built into the wall, with all four limbs trying to work her way away from the hole.

"I WAS TRYING TO MAKE A SMALL HOLE IN SPACE LIKE THE SEAL DID!"

"YOU MADE A HOLE ALL RIGHT! A BLACK HOLE, DAMN IT I TOLD YOU TO WA…"

The shout died in my throat as I had to duck down, but still got side swiped by some of the tools I had clipped to the wall. Turning back from that I saw the hole in space on the dummy expand and shiver, apparently this was an increase in strength because the large pieces of machinery on my side of the shop started inching forward. Even worse, Minami was losing her grip on the desk. I knew logically if I sent my wraps to grab her they'd just be pulled off my arms like the thread was. The suction was too strong, my own sewing desk was creaking and moving forward towards the hole, the metal frame bending. If this continued she'd be sucked into singularity. Gone forever.

I didn't have time to really process this as the eventual happened and she lost her feet and was now only hanging on by her hands, moving down to her fingers. So I moved. It wasn't hard to get to her, I didn't even have to flicker as I jumped and let the pull bring me towards her. I grabbed onto her body, my feet dragging towards the hole as she lost her grip to the additional weight. Well, okay, that probably wasn't the best move. But I had somewhat of a plan as I pushed out the chakra.

"FORCE JUMP!"

I screamed pushing chakra into my feet, pushing wind back behind me towards the hole. There was a slight jump as it tried to push us forward a scant few feet. But still away from the hole.

"FORCE JUMP! FORCE JUMP! FORCE JUMP!"

I screamed, forcing us forward as fast as possible, but draining me, just desperation pushing me to keep going. With the distance we managed to get her hands to the ground and pushed chakra to stick us down and move us forward along with my own efforts inch by inch. I looked back and saw the hole continue to shake. Was it losing stability? I didn't know, I wasn't a damn physicist, but it was getting stronger and every burst I put through was getting weaker.

Damn my rotten freaking luck.

As I pushed forward I was still looking back, staring at the abyss at my feet trying to pull us in. The sweat that was starting to bead on my face was being sucked in just as fast as the papers and the bits of metal. I wasn't afraid to die, that was a fact, but that was another realm of unknown. No one knew what happened in black holes. I certainly didn't want to find out, but I couldn't take my eyes off of it as it started to shake. As I squinted at it I thought I could see hope. The edges were receding into it, was it going to collapse? Well, I hoped that was a good thing, I didn't know but I was hopeful and I watched as it started to shrink into itself even as I continually tried to use my jutsu to go against the suction. It was this distraction that stopped me from seeing the metal as it hit me.

The sewing desk apparently was too top heavy, because it went barreling backwards and hit me square in the head even though it jumped Minami completely. I'm not sure I could have dodged it even if I had seen it coming and I could only rely on shinobi grade durability to prevent me from losing my damn head completely, but the impact shook me and my grip equally, so as the impact created the blaring pain as my vision was filled with metal that dented I flew back with me no longer gripping Minami.

I could see her, her mouth was open as she was reaching back but I couldn't hear if she was screaming. Not over the blaring winds or the ringing in my own head as my vision started to edge with darkness. But she disappeared, as did the stone room and the metal bits flying like a dot in the distance as everything went completely black.

* * *

 **Hello peoples! So this is the first crossover I've made, the premise of this crossover is Ume thrown into another world. The Ume here is set about a year after the current place in Sugar Plums (Chapter 141 for future readers). This fanfic will also use a slightly different style. It'll switch between first person (Ume) and third person (Everyone else). This story is meant to be more lighthearted in tone and general atmosphere.**

 **Expect snark.**

 **This will be updating weekly (Every Monday) to test it out, I'm not used to keeping things on a schedule but I figure if I want to keep my pace more steady I need to find a good pace for myself (I've been a bit of a sprinter this past years, but I may need to slow down just because of life, wouldn't want to just drop off completely after all). I of course will want lots of reviews and opinions, I love receiving feedback whenever I can, and of course I will answer any questions you need if they won't be answered immediately or aren't crucial to the story.**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Trees that seemed unnaturally green created a thick canopy that few people could immediately see through. Taller than the average house, it was clear this was an ancient and wild place despite it being so close to what was considered a man made marvel of technology and comfort. Its preservation in the face of advancement was likely considered a necessity to keep a solid supply of the residents of this forest. It was a preserve in a sense, though not one for any normal animals. No, the creatures that resided in this forest were biologically and mentally unlike any other living creatures in this world.

If one could even consider them living.

No, living would be a bit of a stretch. The basic biological functions required for that seemed almost completely absent from these creatures. Though they seemed to mimic such actions, they only lived in the sense that they could move and think in a limited sense towards a single objective.

The death of all other living things.

This preserve of death stood filled with these creatures, though never over filled as there would always be a culling of them to prevent their numbers from overwhelming and attacking the nearby dwellings. In fact, the closest dwelling excelled in this practice as one such culling began with several people who would be participating in such things were launched from a nearby cliff down into the forest below.

Some of those thrown into the forest below used their weapons to direct or even extend their flight to land safely, some used some of their natural abilities to lower their momentum, some had no plan at all how to land but were fortunately pinned to a tree. One of the people thrown forward used their weapon as well.

The redhead in pink and white flew through the air with a ferocious grin on her face as she spun and glanced around looking for her intended landing space. She already saw the area who the person she was looking for landed and she didn't doubt she could find them in a timely manner. Because no matter what, they were going to be together one way or another, it was how it had always been and how it would always be. Nothing could stop that, not if she had any say in it and she usually did.

As she approached the tree line she pulled her weapon off her back and unfolded it to its full form. The hammer was, shaft and all, only a bit taller than she was, though the head was bigger than her, a giant cylinder of silver with a pink heart emblazoned on the end. She didn't pull the trigger on the contraption, as wild as she was she didn't have much ammunition on her. Not that it mattered to her as she swung her hammer and tore the first tree top in half with a single swing, shattering the wood and moving it out of her way. It was the same with the next tree, and the next, three trees down and she had destroyed any obstacles in her way while redirecting her momentum in her swings enough so that she could safely roll to the ground. She got to her feet quickly and put both hands up her hammer in her fist.

"Woo! Now let's see if…."

She was interrupted by a sudden and immediate crash resounding through the forest.

Normally she wouldn't be startled by such things, crashing things was something of a speciality of hers, but this was too far away and in a certain direction.

Renny!

It was a gut reaction, though probably one not justified. Nora Valkyrie knew very clearly that Lien Ren was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Even disarmed he was basically a ninja, but that didn't stop her from sprinting through the woods full speed to make sure.

As she dodged through the trees leaping over shrubs and navigating with ease she found, not what she was expecting. Papers and leaves floated down in trees, several branches were broken in the pile of metal and scrap. Did someone land here? She didn't remember anybody at initiation bringing this much stuff with them.

That thought was cut off as she heard a growl nearby, then the sound of wind. She didn't even have to think about it as she brought her hammer around in a wide swing and caught the side of the beowulf's head. It only flew a short distance before hitting a tree and crumpling to the ground, dissolving. There was more growling and the redhead turned around to see five more beowolf stalk out from the trees. The bone white masks on the black creatures with only bits of white among their limbs and backs, a contrast to the brown and green of the forest. But, oddly enough, they didn't seem too interested in the redhead. Instead, they stalked closer to the pile.

Didn't matter, charging up, Nora jumped the pile in a bound and brought her hammer down into a spin onto the furthest beowulf. That got their attention. Not that it mattered, as she spun her hammer out in a circle, catching another one in the chest and sending it flying into the nearest one, both of them collapsing from the impact. The remaining two launched themselves at her at once, but that just made them an easier target for her upward swing. The first was a little faster than the second, meaning it got hit right under the chin. Using the momentum to spin herself, she caught the second one with her foot in the chest, it didn't have as much force as her hammer did, but she was a fierce and strong warrior, so much so that any part of her could be considered a weapon. The hit was enough to stun the creature of grimm as she completed another spin and slammed the hammer into the center mass of the creature, sending it careening off the pile and into the trees. She did a quick jump into the air, fist holding up the hammer in victory.

"Woo! And I didn't waste any ammo! Renny would be so proud."

When she landed on the pile, though, she misstepped as she felt something soft twinge under her feet.

"Huh?"

Flailing a little bit at the shift in her footing, she looked down in the pile beneath her. Upon closer inspection, under the bits of metal and grey there was a pile of magenta and violet cloth sitting there. Upon closer inspection of the cloth, it seemed to be moving up and down, it was breathing. Leaning down, she grabbed the cloth and pulled back to reveal a little girl and a cat. The cat was black and white and in the sunlight mewed quietly, walking over and nudging the girl. The girl, however, seemed to shiver at the light. She was alive, though unconscious.

"How did you manage to get all the way out here?"

Nora thought aloud as she folded up her hammer and stowed it away. She pulled away the metal, reached down and picked up the girl. If she weighed anything the older girl didn't notice, since she was tiny. She was covered in bandages except for one hand that seemed to be made of wood.

"Oh, you're like a little puppet girl? Or maybe you're a princess lost from your kingdom?"

The girl continued to shiver in her grip, face grimacing in her sleep.

"Are you cold?"

Reaching down, she grabbed the cloth and wrapped the girl in it like an infant. Well, kind of, she wasn't allowed to see the babies at the orphanage when she was younger, though she saw them often wrapped up like that. The cat jumped out of the cloth and onto the small girl that Nora held in her arms.

"Is this your princess, kitty?"

Nora spoke as she walked through the trees. As she did, she heard the unmistakable sounds of battle in the distance. That's right! Renny was that way, she should see what he thinks.

Sprinting through the trees with girl and cat in hand she got onto the scene to find the unmistakable form of her long time companion with both hands on the head of a large snake grimm and said snake grimm's head exploding. It was a trick Renny had used once or twice when left without his weapon, in a sense Ren Lei didn't even need a weapon. His aura and martial arts were match enough for most normal grimm, but having the blades and guns as backup didn't hurt. Said dark haired martial artist dressed in a green outfit only stopped to retrieve his weapons before holding them so that they compressed into themselves and slipped into the thin sleeves of his top.

"Hrrrrra! Hrrrra!"

Nora bellowed out as she walked over to him, the girl tucked in her arms with the cat on top.

"I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like."

Ren responded, before looking down at the bundle.

"Where did you find a cat?"

There was a pause as he reached down and looked closer to see the face of a sleeping girl. It was an odd sight, to be certain. Forests that housed grimm usually housed little else. The dark creatures would scare off any and all other types of animals, big or small. In fact, the absence of things like deer and birds was usually the first tip off to civilians that there was a grimm in the area, so a cat being in the woods was incredibly unlikely.

"And a girl?"

Which was even more unlikely, not that it discounted that the girl was in fact here.

"In the forest! There was a bunch of beowolves, but I went all rip, pow, boom and got them off."

As she spoke, Nora spun and mimed using her hammer by rocking the girl back and forth in her arms, almost sending her flying more than once. Ren's hands flew out, shaking, before she stopped.

"I get the picture, what is a girl doing out in the middle of the forest?" He responded calmly.

"Maybe she's a fallen princess, left in the woods to die by her sinister relatives."

Nora said, holding up the bundle in her hands to the sky.

"She could be a part of the initiation. Hunters are supposed to save down civilians if they can, though that would present significant risk to those taking part."

Reaching over, he pulled away the cloth to take a better look.

"Though we will need to avoid if we ca…"

A roar interrupted their speaking and the two of them turned to see two ursa heading towards them.

* * *

On a nearby cliff overlooking the green forest, stood a man in a green suit with white hair and tiny round glasses. He was looking down onto a thin screen that had a feed from one of numerous cameras that were set up all throughout the forest. After all, one couldn't expect them to send several teenagers into a forest teeming with predators without some way to monitor them. Though so far those who made it past the initial screening to get into the school behind him were doing well.

It seemed unfair to many that there were exclusive requirements to get into hunter schools, but it was absolutely necessary that whomever was placed in these situations could handle themselves. After all, even though they could be seen, that doesn't mean if a dangerous situation popped up that help would arrive to do any good. It was looking upon the screen that the man in green known as Ozpin noticed some movement behind him as his deputy headmistress walked up next to him.

"Our last pair has been formed sir, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, poor boy, I can't imagine those two getting along, still…. Wait."

There was a pause as the woman stopped to look at the screen. The blood haired woman focused on the image.

"What is that they have found?"

Focusing the camera on the image, she tried to follow the exaggerated movements of the red head in the image moving it about to figure it out. There was no audio to go along with the cameras as the upkeep for such things was too much of a bother when images would usually suffice. However, the bundle of magenta cloth was not something either of them saw Miss Valkyrie enter the forest with, nor was the…

"Is that a cat?"

The man in green looked over at the screen, hazel eyes scanning over the picture before the stances of the youth changed. He glanced at that before turning towards his own screen where he saw two young women bicker. Letting out a soft sigh, he looked to the blonde deputy headmistress.

"It seems something new has arrived."

* * *

The world was a hazy thick darkness, that penetrated everything. I couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't even think, it was so thick. I knew the feeling, I had experienced it many, many times but this was different than most. It was a feeling, more like an urge, the feeling that came before the execution of an action. The feeling of an attack.

It was intent, killing intent. Something I had felt time and time again in fight after fight. But this was different, shockingly so.

Most killing intent, the actual feeling that goes before an action that is meant to deal harm is born of another emotion. Desperation is one often shown, fear another, anger very often was the fuel behind such a decision, or in the case of Zabuza it was just a cold determination. I was very familiar with the last one, it being one of the strongest examples. But even that didn't compare to this, I could get used to those after all. I could take someone being desperate in my presence, to fearing me, to being angry at me or to just have grimly determined they are going to harm me. I could even take someone simply hating me, and that's what this was, it was hate.

But it was like no hate I'd ever felt before.

Hatred often came up in battle, the hatred of someone who killed your opponent, who harmed you or someone you loved. That hatred was common and easy to put behind an attack, but that wasn't this hatred at all. Because that hatred had a reason, a rhyme, something more behind it. It wasn't ever just simple hate. Human emotions were like humans, a complex grove of feelings and sensations that intertwined within each other, strengthening and feeding off of feelings to make a single intent. No act of violence is ever stemmed by just one emotion, there is always more than that.

Desperation often built on guilt, regret and fear, fear often built on helplessness, love and regret, anger also built on love but also hatred, as well as fear, and determination created by confidence, fear, love or any combination. No, emotions cycled through people as much as reasons and experience did. There is no time when someone is truly feeling just a single emotion, though one emotion may be fed by others to seem to be the case, which was why this emotion startled me so.

It was hatred, pure hatred.

There was no desperation to the hatred, no fear, no helplessness, no determination or love. No hints of emotion near the edge to color it one way or another, no individuality to change its flavor. No, it was just hatred, a sharp pinning hatred that knew no bounds of reason or relatability. An alien feeling that filled me and chilled me to the bone.

It surrounded me like a sea and I was drowning in it. No noise could be made from my throat, there was no sound, no light, just this deep surrounding hatred that couldn't be my own. I have hated things before, hated them with a passion but that was the thing. There was no passion, that would require other emotions to be involved. My own feelings were swept away in this alien feeling and I could feel myself slipping away with it, being swept away into the darkness.

Then something else hit me like a jolt of lightning.

It certainly felt like lightning, a shock to my system that cut through the darkness and touched on my being. Leaving a buzzing feeling in my teeth and a numbness in my hands, but still welcome from the darkness because I knew, I knew with all my being that it was human. It was cheer, cheer born of confidence. Happiness bloomed from the cheer, happiness, satisfaction and exhilaration, it fed back into a blooming confidence once more. A positive light that broke the darkness. It was odd I could even tell what it was, I wasn't as attuned to positive emotions as I was to negative ones. It usually took conscious effort and a lot of focus for me to even notice them, and even then they had to be especially strong. Though I suppose this counted, because it cleared away the hatred, which seemed to spread around like water over ink. It was still there, but it was being spread away.

After the initial shock I got more comfortable with the cheer, it wasn't hard. People wanted to be around positive emotions and it was more familiar than that deep hatred. What scared me most was that I didn't even know where it came from. Where could that much concentrated hate come from? I could understand the cheer, it had a logical cycle, a gradient of emotion of sorts. But that was black, solid unyielding black.

I breathed in quietly and smelled something too, it was sweet. Syrup? Maybe, but another feeling came after a moment. It felt like flower petals, floating down, a light flowy emotion that brushed my face in the light. It was a calming feeling, a calm that came from confidence but also from the feeling of nostalgia. Of the expected, the comfort of a routine. The calm and the cheer seemed to blend together, making a feeling of comfort brought by the familiar, of home, that warm feeling when you come to where you will be accepted wholeheartedly with little hesitation.

It was comfortable, but still I could feel the blackness near the corners, it was coming back. More hatred, more blackness and…

Something fuzzy under my nose.

I sneezed after a moment before getting a nose full of cat. I knew it was cat, just as much as I knew my head felt like someone was driving a spike through it.

"Augh."

I tried to lean forward, but found it hard to do as my arms and legs were bound. I opened an eye, wincing in the light, to see myself lying on the floor of a forest with Danny standing in front of me, rubbing his face into mine, which while pleasant didn't mitigate the pain in the rest. My ears were ringing and my head was pounding.

Oh great, did I get a concussion, that was fun. Looking down, I saw I wasn't bound as I was wrapped up in my clothing like I was a magenta burrito. Well, that was easy to fix, though I should assess the damage first. Both eyes open, I pushed a little chakra into some loose cloth and wrapped it around my head. Self diagnostic on head wounds wasn't the best choice, especially since you shouldn't mold chakra when you have a concussion. But it didn't seem like I had much of a cho…

The hatred and intent hit me again and it told me one thing, move.

I hadn't unbound myself yet, so I rolled to the side and something crashed next to me. I blinked as I saw a large paw furrow a deep groove in the dirt. Solid black with what looked like bone sticking out in odd places and claws. It moved up for a second and I rolled, letting the cloth roll away from my body before my arms and legs were free and pulling my cloth back. It was promptly stomped on by the creature who, once I looked up at, I had a clear view as to where that emotion had come from before. Its focus on me struck me with the pure hatred it had. Through the distraction of pain, the confusion of just waking, of being in a strange place, it struck me and made me freeze as I looked at this creature fully.

Solid black, black like the feelings, no feeling singular it generated, so much so that it ate the light around it. But on that black, solid white, like bleached bone jutting out all over. It was huge, easily over eight feet tall with teeth and claws and a mask on its face. The mask lined with red with two red eyes. It was moving, it was…

A flash of silver collided with its head and I blinked out of my trance. The bear, was it a bear, staggered to the side, and I was grabbed under my arms and swept up. I blinked as I tried to sort my thoughts, but I was having trouble really processing what had just happened. Had, had that thing almost hit me? What in the world was that? Where in the world was I? Who was holding me, who was?

I looked up to see pink eyes framed by black hair with a matching streak of pink in it, but otherwise a wild flared mass on the face of a young man as well as, panic? A calm, controlled panic, only partially shown. A deep panic, but also a forced calm, rigid discipline, deep breaths as panic faded, and the calm created by experience, familiar setting and forced breathing.

Conditioning, it was conditioning, he was controlling his emotions to prevent himself from acting in panic, it was fueled by fear at first but he pushed that down quickly and expertly.

Which didn't show on his face at all, so why the hell did I know this?

I gripped my head, the headache still pounding, was it the concussion? That didn't make sense, given, sense wasn't coming quickly to me. Though the ringing was fading out and I could make out words.

"-re you alright?"

I blinked at the words, then at the person holding me in a single arm, eyes elsewhere as he was still moving. It wasn't Japanese, it was English, which surprised me. I understood, though the word took a second to form as I answered.

"Ummuh, hai."

I muttered out. I felt a weight and saw Danny had jumped up onto my shoulder, wedging himself in the space between myself and the person holding me up.

He looked down at me and let out a breath.

"Okay, it's okay. We got you."

Relief, edged with fear. It didn't show on his face, though. He kept his expression passive, but it was there just under the surface. It fluttered off him, like flower petals, like that weird dream. Was that him? That did happen sometimes, I was often woken when intent entered my dreams. That meant the hatred had been more of those creatures, but what was the…

I felt the lightning of cheer before it struck, or more like grabbed. I think the young man holding me might have dodged the grab had he not been focused on me, but a hand in a pink glove grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hoisted him, and by extension, me onto the back of, the, wait if I took a look at it, it was the bear. Well, bear shaped concentrated hatred, I don't think a bear could actually make feelings like that. The cheer changed to exhilaration as the bear reared back and the, now I looked at her, red haired young woman yelled out.

"ONWARD MY NOBLE STEED! ONWARD TO THE RUINS!"

The bear roared in response, trying to rear back to swipe at the three of us currently sitting on his back, but then was moved forward as the woman pulled up a silver canister and shot something at the bear's head that made it rush forward.

It showed a good amount of speed forward at that. I could hear trees being crushed as it started lumbering forward, the three of us bouncing on it's back. As I was squashed against the spiny back of the creature, wedged between that and the young man who was holding on for dear life just behind the older girl I couldn't help but reel at the difference between the three.

The pure alien hatred of the bear even as it was spurred forward. The panic and fear of the boy who tried to push it down as he clung for dear life, the cheer and happiness of the girl who had pulled us onto this beast.

And Danny, who barely registered at all, terrified while clinging to my chest.

As we rushed through the wilderness riding a beast that hated so much I was certain it would almost certainly be trying to kill us the next chance it got, I couldn't help but think.

This is about the third strangest thing that has ever happened to me.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The four of us, well, five if you counted the bear, eventually barrelled our way into a clearing. As soon as we got close the girl in pink shot the bear again in the head and it toppled face first unconcious. Myself, the boy in green and Danny fell off in a heap just behind it as we heard the girl exclaim.

"Ah, it's broken."

Clear disappointment actually came off of her. Ren stood up using the back of the bear to grip, took a few steps back, radiating a tired resignation and relief as he said.

"Nora, please don't do that again."

I could agree with that sentiment, the sudden ride had been a jarring experience among with the sudden and quick stop. Nevermind I was feeling the emotional states of two very different teenages among with, whatever this thing was. Being on the ground for a moment helped though, just being still helped too and I took a moment to breath in and out as Danny clung to the wraps on my chest, nails dug in deep still shaking from the strange and rough ride.

I reached up with my right hand and started to pet the tomcat on the ears.

"Shh, shh, daijobu desu."

There was a brief instance of curiosity from the boy, then what felt like recognition.

"Daijobu desu ka?"

I blinked at the response.

"(Yes, I'm alright, you understand me.)"

"(It's been a while, I was taught when I was very young.)"

He held out a hand to me and I grabbed it. He pulled me up for a moment.

"(I haven't heard that dialect before either.)"

"(I'm not from around here.)"

There was a pause as we heard in the distance a sing song voice going.

"I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle."

The two of us turned to see the girl in pink standing by a dilapidated building, holding what looked like an oversized rook. A small amount of frustration mixed with annoyance rolled off the boy as he yelled out.

"Nora!"

"Coming, Ren!"

The girl in pink responded, not at all perturbed by his tone as we walked out from the forest to meet her. Standing in front of the ruins was a blonde girl in a brown bomber jacket, a yellow cami and black biker shorts next to a girl with black hair in a black and white outfit with a black bow. Both exuded a certain amount of disbelief and annoyance, though the blonde seemed to be building on the latter more quickly as she spoke.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" She said.

The feeling rather than the sound had me turn my head before anyone responded to that as a much, much larger creature broke through the trees, chasing a redhead in a gold and red outfit. I stared at the creature then back at the boy, Ren, and said.

"(Is that a giant scorpion?)"

"(It's a grimm, it's called a deathstalker.)"

The creature drew closer, the redhead only barely avoiding getting crunched between its claws as she called out.

"Jaune!"

There was a delay before a male voice called out.

"Pyrrha!"

There was a pause before he said again.

"Ruby."

Then from the trees a girl with black hair in a red dress jumped from the trees. A mix of determination and eagerness coming off her as the blonde exclaimed.

"Ruby."

"Yang!"

With a burst of happiness as she tried to lean in for a hug, which was interrupted by Nora, who chose that moment to burst in between them and finish the Rocky Roll Call with.

"Nora!"

"Did she just run all the way here with a deathstalker on her tail?"

The unnamed brunette said, partially in annoyance and disbelief at the scene.

"(Wouldn't you.)"

I said flat out to the girl, who looked at me. This seemed to be the breaking point as the blonde literally burst out in flames for a moment in frustration.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. CAN EVERYBODY JUST CHILL OUT FOR TWO SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN?"

The blonde exclaimed.

I looked at the group of them, then back at the deathstalker.

"(You've been on a battlefield before, right?)" I deadpanned.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU EVEN SAYING!?"

There was a pause as the blonde seemed to switch gears as she looked at me. Anger and frustration switching to confusion and concern at a moment's notice.

"What is a little girl even doing here?"

"What are you even doing here?" I replied, the switch to English eliciting surprise from Ren, and a few others.

"We're here to…"

"Umm, Yang?"

Ruby, the girl in red, apparently, pointed upwards. God, there was something familiar about this, but I couldn't seem to connect it immediately. All seven of us turned our heads upwards to see a giant fucking bird, with a terrified and confused girl in white hanging off a talon.

"How could you leave me?!"

"I said jump." The girl in red protested weakly.

"Unless she can fly, probably not a great idea." I said.

"She's gonna fall." The unnamed brunette said.

"She'll be fine." The scared, determined and worried girl in red responded.

"She's falling." Ren replied finally as we watched the girl in white lose her grip.

Whelp, what were the chances I could actually catch her without hurting myself, actually pretty slim. I really shouldn't mold chakra while having a concussion, one because doing so might cause me to use too much or too little, or it might make me vomit, or any other number of things. You generally didn't want to do something that was based entirely on constructing mental pathways to connect your physical energy with your mental energy to bend the laws of nature as a general rule. Nevermind I was much smaller than that girl and oh wait, a guy caught her mid flight. That's nice, can he fly, nope, no, he can't. In fact I can feel and see the panic fall off both of them as they fall faster with their combined weight and, well, at least he cushioned her blow.

I walked over quietly, looking at the girl in white and the blond boy lying on the ground.

"Are you alright?"

"My hero." The girl in white said before looking up at me. "What's a little girl doing here?"

"Standing."

I drawled out as I turned my head around to see in the background the girl in red and gold still running.

"Seriously, are none of you going to go help her?"

Said girl in a dead sprint jumped a good few meters before falling over exhausted in front of the others.

"Great, the gang's all here, now we can die together."

"Not if I could help it."

The girl in red replied, hefting her weapon as she moved forward, fear and eagerness fueling her run forward.

"That's a terrible plan."

I said as I reached down and helped pull the boy to his feet before turning to look at the other teenagers as the girl in red sprinted the distance to the deathstalker and shot at it with her, was that a giant scythe, now I knew this was familiar. Though whatever it was she had, it wasn't effective since it didn't even slow the giant scorpion down as she started to sprint away.

Worry and fear spread between the other teenagers, but only the blonde girl saw fit to run forward to help the other girl. Okay, this was getting out of hand. Until this point this seemed like a bad joke, but this was actually dangerous.

The girl in red ran ahead but the BFB (big freaking bird) came back around and, did it just shoot feathers out of its wings? How the hell did it stay floating when it...? You know what, nevermind, I shouldn't try to apply logic to this. I was in the middle of the woods with the cast of a B teenage movie who were being chased by monsters made of pure hate, should I really question this?

The giant feathers from the giant bird pinned the girl's red hood to the ground and she struggled against it.

"Take the damn thing off!"

I yelled from the distance, not that it seemed like she was listening. The feathers had pinned the blonde girl down too, who seemed too stunned to get moving again. Okay, no more being passive about this, I had a concussion, I didn't know where I was and these damn teenagers didn't have enough sense between them to fill a teaspoon, but it didn't matter, I wasn't going to let that girl get killed by that giant scorpion. Reaching into my sleeve I pulled my sword out from the seal I kept it in and tied it to my hip. I built up wind in my feet, this was going to suck if I got too much blowback but if I could cut that hood loose, then... I felt the surge of intent, clear as a bell, determination born of worry, and the short gust of wind as white flashed by us. Following my eyes forward I saw circles run along the ground as the girl in white closed in as the scorpion tried to attack the pinned girl.

Then ice flared up catching the stinger.

Okay, this got more interesting, then. I didn't stop molding my chakra, though and dashed forward immediately after. As I got close I caught wind of the conversation as the girl in white berated the girl.

"And dimwitted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style."

"Her fighting style, you got this monster pinned and you're running your damn mouth."

I replied, appearing just next to her a moment later.

Both teenagers turned to look at me confusion.

"How did you?"

I rolled my eyes as I jumped up past the scorpion's giant front claws and onto its head. I stuck my feet to its head, pulled my sword out of its sheath and stabbed it down into one of the creature's large red eyes. I got more resistance than I thought I would, usually the eyes of a creature were by their very nature soft areas, but there seemed to be a protective layer around this creature's eyes. That just meant I put both hands on the hilt and pushed chakra into my arms to increase the strength of my stab, twisting it somewhat to make sure the blade dug in as deep as possible. My sword wasn't very long, it was a wakizashi, so only about two feet, but that was apparently deep enough to do some serious damage to the giant scorpion.

The creature screamed out, trying to buck me in its death throes, but I was using chakra to attach my feet to its head. Its claws weren't flexible enough to reach me as it twisted and moved against its immobile stinger. I had to let go of my sword and jump off when it fully inverted itself, only then managing to leverage itself against the ice, but even then it was almost completely dead.

A few seconds later the ice cracked and I jumped back a few feet, as did the other two girls as it skittered forward, trying to impale me with its stinger as a final goodbye. I backed away, light headed as I moved around, but I was getting slower. It had been a bad idea to do this as I was, I was already getting dizzy, but I couldn't stay close, so I did a short half flicker, disappearing from where I was and reappearing several meters and watched from a safe distance before it finally stopped moving.

I watched the creature dissolve fully as I focused on it, my head swimming and pounding from the hatred of the creature. It, it took a lot to not just keep running from it. Or here really, because I could, I could feel more things, more hatred in the forest behind me. They were fainter, more distant, but they were there. It was only the distance from the teenagers that made me fully aware of this. The emotions wrapped around them, the confusion, the frustration, the eagerness, determination, cheer, calm and fear, it washed out the hatred of the other creatures. It washed it out because it wasn't alien, it was, alive. Actually alive. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't alive, nothing could live off of just hate. It was unnerving, and what's more, it was hard to separate from my own feelings.

Well, not that I couldn't tell what I was feeling now. I was still confused, but also ahd this nagging in my mind, something about this was familiar, something about this was something I knew. But I couldn't put my thoughts together. In fact, I couldn't put anything together as darkness started to edge my thoughts. But it was a more comfortable darkness because by my side something calming had appeared. Oh good, I wasn't going to pass out alone.

* * *

The eight teenagers stared at the small girl. One or two of them noticed a falter in her stance, one of the two, the young man named Ren, started running towards her. His partner Nora followed after, though pausing at the corpse of the deathstalker to grab the sword that lay in its dissolving corpse.

"Ohhh! Pointy, I wonder where she kept it."

"Where she, what the hell was that?"

The blond girl, Yang, ran forward, looking at the scene with confusion in her eyes.

"It was a small girl who jumped on the head of a deathstalker and killed it in a single blow."

Blake, the black haired girl, walked forward and said in a deadpan.

"Which one of you could have probably done the moment the grimm was pinned."

She gestured to Weiss, the girl in white, and Ruby, the girl in red, who were standing a few feet away.

"Excuse me, I was making sure my partner was alright."

Weiss replied, crossing her arms as she turned to said girl.

"By the way, I'm not done with you. What were you thinking running into a fight like that?"

"I um," The girl in red looked away shyly. "I just wanted to…"

"To show off? You need to stop that."

"I didn't want to show off, I just wanted to prove to you that I could handle myself."

Ruby defended.

"But then, I got saved by someone even younger than me." She replied, a bit deflated.

"You're fine, no one could have predicted that."

Weiss's tone softened.

"Anyway, I saved you, and I suppose I can be a bit difficult. But we're partners, so we should do this together."

The white haired girl turned to see the boy in green walking forward, holding the small girl with red hair.

"Though I have to ask, where in the world did she come from? I would have known if someone that young had come to initiation."

"Ohh, ohh, I found her! In the forest, lying in a heap, beowolves in every direction, so I went BAM! POW! SLAM! And killed them all before finding Renny after he exploded the head of a snake grimm."

Nora responded, hands fluttering around as she spun around with the naked blade in her hand. Ren walked over and held out his hand. Nora only paused for a moment before handing him the weapon handle first.

Ren held the weapon in his off hand as he balanced the unconscious girl in the crook of his arm. It was a well balanced blade, the edge very sharp, and well maintained too. The grip of the handle had a few scratches and there was discoloration that showed that it was well worn. This wasn't a new weapon, almost certainly. He found the sheath quickly, as it was pressed against his arm, and awkwardly moved it before it fell in his hand and he put the blade into it.

"It's as she says, we found her in the forest. We assumed she had gotten here by some sort of accident, but then..."

"Whoosh!" Nora said, her hand moving in the air over them. "JAB! Right in the eye!"

"Well," Yang ran forward and grabbed Ruby in a hug. "I'm so happy you're okay."

That sentiment along with everything else was interrupted by the roar of the large black bird known as a nevermore.

"Guys, that thing's circling back." The blonde boy known as Jaune Arc said.

"There's no sense in dilly dallying, our objective is right in front of us." Weiss said.

"She right, our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliff."

Ruby nodded to her partner in confirmation, who nodded back with a small smile on her face.

"There's no point in fighting that thing."

"Run and live, that is an idea I could get behind." Jaune responded.

"It's time we left." Ren agreed.

"Right, let's go."

Ruby confirmed and ran ahead. As the others started moving, Yang watched Ruby stand ahead, taking the lead even after a minor hiccup. That was good, maybe it was a good thing she was here. Ruby had been shy before.

"What is it?" Blake inquired.

"Nothing." Yang replied as they ran to the cliff.

As they got closer to the cliff, the Nevermore flew ahead, calling out in a fierce cry, daring them to come out. There was no avoiding it as it was blocking their way back to the academy.

Made worse by the fact that from the trees three more Ursas appeared.

"Oh man, run!"

Jaune noted as they moved from cover. They were covered from both sides, so fighting was the only option they had.

"Nora, distract it."

Ren said, his hands clasped around the small girl as he sprinted forward. Nora responded with a smile as she dodged through the flying features before pulling out her grenade launcher/hammer and peppering the nevermore with pink grenades. Buying them time to run forward.

Ren ran up next to Jaune, looking at the girl and the cat he was carrying and making a decision as he went. He overran Jaune and handed off the girl in magenta before jumping backwards at the same time as Blake, doing quick shallow cuts to distract the Ursas, who were about to catch Nora. She had taken a knee to focus fire on the nevermore. Weiss appeared quickly to grab and pull her before depositing her next to Jaune, who was running along the bridge.

Not a few moments later, the giant nevermore broke the bridge separating them from Pyrrha and Ren, who were shooting at the Ursas and failing to slow them down.

"Oh man, we have to get over there." Jaune paused and looked down at the girl in her hands. "Well, you do. I probably shouldn't."

The red haired girl smiled as she unfolded her full hammer and stood on its head, using the burst recoil to propel her over the gap, then using her momentum to slam her hammer down onto an Ursa's head. The bridge on that side visibly shook and one of the pillars started to shake.

Even then three of them versus three Ursa after they were exhausted running through the forest wasn't good odds. Especially since they were stuck at a dead end, one slip and they would fall to their…

The idea struck Jaune and he soon shouted out.

"Pyrrha, Ren, get on the other side!"

The two responded quickly, Pyrrha using her shield to redirect a blow and get on the other side of the Ursas while Ren dodged through the hits gracefully enough to get to the other side.

"Nora, get clear! Guys, the pillars!"

Ren and Pyrrha nodded to each other, understanding the meaning and cutting into both pillars. The unstable structure started to give way, Ren gave his pillar a full kick, knocking it loose and having it fall. Pyrrha ran up her tilted pillar before jumping backwards off it, using her weight to push the pillar down. They both fell on the trio of Ursas cracking and shaking the weakened section of bridge, pushing the stone to fully cracking.

"Nora!"

Jaune didn't even have to say more as the girl with red hair jumped back, springing off the flailing bears down to recoil her upwards before spinning mid air and hitting the shaky bridge. The final blow pushed her backwards as it fully cracked the stone, collapsing it under the three grim, who plummeted into the abyss below. As Nora stuck her landing, hands up, the four of them turned in time to see Ruby Rose running up the cliff, the nevermore's neck in her scythe as she was stuck there using the traction provided by the glyphs that appeared under her feet and using the recoil of her gun shooting downward to help herself go further up. As she got to the top, the bird's body stopped dead on a rock near the top, but it's head kept going as it was sheared off by the blade of the red scythe gun and Ruby stood there on the cliff's edge, the rest of the giant bird falling down along the side.

Jaune stared at this scene holding the girl and cat found in the forest in his arms, eyes wide. Though that was quickly interrupted when Nora yelled.

"Woo! Now we can go get pancakes!"

* * *

"()" Means they're speaking in Japanese.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I recognized the smell first as I started to regain consciousness. Well, that was almost nostalgic. It had been a while since I had gone unconscious and woke up in a hospital room. Well, really it had been a while since I had gone unconscious at all, I was usually better about that sort of thing.

But I knew the smell, all infirmaries, hospital rooms and general medical places had it. The smell of disinfectant mixed with medicine and just normal soap. It wasn't a pleasant smell, but it was comforting in the sense it meant I hadn't been knocked out and left in a bad situation.

That had happened too many times for me to count.

I didn't really want to wake up, because I had a nagging feeling that whatever I was going to wake up to was going to be annoying. If it was just pain it would be fine, I was used to pain, it was also a comfort because the dead didn't feel pain. It was the quickest and easiest way for me to know I was still alive. But memory came back slowly and showed I had somehow ended up in a, while not necessarily dangerous, certainly difficult situation.

The first memory that actually formed was of what I was doing before. The workshop, me trying out the sewing machine, Minami experimenting trying to make a new seal and…

My eyes shot open and I sat up, trying to look around and blinking. The smell had confirmed where I was, it was a room of white and silver, filled with all sorts of beeping devices. I was dressed in a thin green gown which probably could have doubled as a hankey. Other than that I was naked. That was a red flag. My eyes started darting around the place, searching for what was missing. A meowing caught my attention. I turned my head to see Danny standing in a nearby table. I gestured and he jumped to the bed and onto my table. As I tried to move my arm I found there was a needle in it.

I blinked and followed it to the bag. Was I drugged? I couldn't even feel it, so probably not a shinobi hospital. The stuff they put into shinobi would at least have me feeling woozy, but I barely felt much different. Letting out a sigh, I found the little valve they put on the plastic tubes, closed it and then removed the needle from my arm, healing the puncture close with just a little bit of effort of chakra.

Right, I'm in a hospital bed, I should probably check myself out before I go moving around. This was going to be a pain without my wraps.

I put both hands on my head and spread them over, checking my skull. There was a crack on the back, but it was mostly intact. There were some stress signs in the soft tissue, a concussion? It was already receding now and…

Memories pushed forward, hatred, pure hatred, cheer and calmness. Colorful teenagers, monsters made of hate, a fight, a big ass scorpion, ice.

Fuck, what the hell had I gotten into?

Whatever it was, I'd suffered a head injury, and aggravated it by molding chakra too soon after receiving it. I'd get an earful from Kiriko when…

Kiriko where, where was she? Minami, what had happened to her? Mitsuki, Gonmaru, Benjiro, Hiroshi, Suigetsu and Chojuro? Where were they, if this was a hospital, if I was hurt, wouldn't at least one of them be here? Except, I wasn't normally hurt, I was in a forest, but before that I…

A black hole, I had been sucked into a black hole.

But I wasn't dead, it hurt, a dull numbness, no, I wasn't dead. So what, I was sucked up into a black hole and dropped somewhere? But where was here?

Too many questions, not enough answers, and I didn't have my damn clothing. Ughh, I knew this would be annoying. I should have stayed asleep and let myself heal.

I felt a fuzzy paw touch my cheek and looked down at the black and white tom cat meowing at me.

"(Yeah, I got nothing.)"

I said to the cat as I continued to run diagnostic jutsus. My ribs were cracked, I showed signs of bruising on my back and legs, but those were already healing. My left stump was sore, I looked at it and saw that still attached to the end was the wooden prosthetic, it hadn't been removed for whatever reason. That was good, it'd be annoying to be missing my arm as well as my clothing. I looked up the wooden arm up and down, it was chipped and cracked in a few places, but still functional. At least they didn't try to take it off, they might hurt themselves on the mechanism keeping it in place.

Sliding to the edge of the bed, I took another glance around the room. It was pretty small, there was only one other bed in it and it was occupied by another teenager. He had dark brown hair with a white streak through it and he was laying in a similar outfit. He wasn't awake, but he seemed to exert faint emotions. Mostly slight bouts of eagerness and fear that seemed to come off him. Was he dreaming?

Curious, I jumped off my bed and walked over. He didn't look like he was hurt, but it could have been internal damage. I placed my hand on his chest and activated the diagnostic jutsu only for his body to start glowing in reaction to my chakra.

"(What the hell?)"

The glow stayed for a few moments before fading. I held out my hand again and pushed chakra into it, this time with no real purpose, just normal chakra. I held it to his body and the glow came back. It felt, it felt like chakra. But then, chakra didn't usually react so quickly to outside stimuli. I switched back to diagnostic jutsu and tried to focus on scanning, it worked. In fact, it worked better than normal. The glowing field around him circulated the purpose of my jutsu to cover not just the spot I was scanning but his entire body. He had been hurt, but wasn't anymore. A broken arm, as well as a dislocated shoulder, but it was healing now. It was almost halfway healed, like someone had put an accelerated healing jutsu on him.

Was that what that glow had been? A strange jutsu? But how was it being maintained?

Accelerated healing jutsu usually required a crutch to keep up the process. Usually the person needed to eat more and rest up while their body repaired itself. It was less efficient, easier to do, but much less efficient than what was now standard healing jutsu partially because of time, partially because it created scarring and wear and tear on the bones. It was also the only way Kirigakure had for healing for a long time, until we updated our medical division using the teachings of Senju Tsunade. So when we first met her there was the unfortunate necessity for us to re break our bones so she could perfectly mend our bones with jutsu.

It was as painful as you probably think it is.

Regardless, something had to keep this process up. Probably something to do with the light show. Whatever it is it probably took its toll on the chakra system. Curious, I changed the diagnostic jutsu to take a closer look at that. What I saw made me take a step back.

"(What the hell? It's empty!)"

I exclaimed to no one in particular, though the guy on the bed seemed to stir before calming down. Danny took that chance to jump on my shoulders, his head bobbing in front of mine and looking down at the guy, curious.

"(I know, right? By all rights, he should be dead.)"

Every living thing had a chakra system, it was much like the body's circulatory system. Every living thing's system produced and flowed chakra throughout the body, always. If it didn't, you were, by my world's medical standards, dead. This was usually considered the case since chakra was basically life energy and when you're missing that you tend to stop living. I don't know if it was the same with the world I came from, people claimed there were energies and souls, but no one could really quantify or gauge such things. Most of it was done on faith, it was why I had been so surprised when I was reborn, I hadn't actually had much in way of faith when I died. But from what I knew as quantifiable evidence, the boy in front of me, for all intents and purposes should no longer be among the living, instead of dozing and healing slowly. And he was healing, a quick check showed a bit of progress of the bone mending itself.

This was bizarre, almost as bizarre as me suddenly being super empathic instead of just slightly empathic. Though maybe that was connected. I didn't know, I didn't have enough information right now, hell, I didn't even have any food because…

Right, my wraps, my storage seals on the wraps, they had to be around here somewhere, they had to be…

There was a gigantic bang that resounded throughout the entire building. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as I made my way to the door.

* * *

The laundry room at Beacon was in a section of the bottom floor of the building that held the dormitories. It was in fact an industrial sized laundry, with industrial size washers and dryers, which the students send their laundry down to in chute. The clothing was handled by many of the workers who staffed Beacon and it was stated outright in the brochure that if you wanted your clothing delivered back to your room you wrote both your name on all your clothing and put it in a bag with your room number on it. If you had anything that needed dry cleaning, you brought it to the room and they would give you a number for pick up, but most students for their uniforms or their combat gear just used the chutes. It was faster that way, and with how dirty and sweaty the clothing of hunters and huntresses got, it was considered a great convenience for the students.

The room was generally well insulated to noise and a full floor away from the sleeping quarters because the large machines were very loud and often ran through the night. But that didn't stop this particular disturbance from waking almost every student who lived on campus in Beacon. After all, it wasn't every day that a washing machine exploded.

* * *

I watched the floor float underneath my feet as I was taken into the elevator. It was a pretty disorienting feeling, just floating off the ground bobbing behind the blonde woman in flannel pajamas holding a riding crop. Danny was on my shoulders, clinging to me with his head going left and right as he tried to make sense of the situation.

"I'd like to say, for the record, that this is bullshit."

"If this would ever go on record, I'd have to agree. Starting a school year with a destroyed laundry room is a headache I did not expect to have to deal with."

The woman radiated irritation, which was preferable since she was raging when she found me. But, honestly, it didn't stop how mad I was.

"It's not my fault you guys messed with my stuff."

"Do you know how expensive that laundry machine was?"

She said as we got into the elevator at the end of the hall she was floating me through.

"Do you know how expensive that everything was?"

I held out my arms flailing in the air. It really was expensive, all the nice fresh prepared food was ruined, all my dishes and teapots were destroyed, there were thousands of senbon needles that were now scattered about the bottom floor of the building, and all my spare clothing was splattered about, I couldn't even find my medical bag in the mess. I was just lucky my sword seals didn't break, because if anything happened to those I'd be in so much damn trouble with, well, everyone. Not that I was able to retrieve them. At least I'd managed to grab my kimono from the wreckage before this blonde woman snatched me up with whatever telekinesis bull she was doing right now.

"Seriously, no one thought it strange that those wraps I was bundled in were covered in writing? Or that it might not be a good idea to try and wash away the ink?"

"Laundering someone's clothing after they've passed out in a forest seemed the appropriate thing to do at the time."

The elevator's door closed after she pressed the button and we started to go up.

"Maybe if the clothes were willingly given. You guys freaking stripped me in my sleep! Isn't there a consent thing for that at least?"

"You're a minor."

She looked at me, blue eyes narrowing.

"An unaccompanied minor with no history or background from anywhere, who was injured and found in a forest full of grimm. Our priority was to get you medical attention and look for any signs of information in your identity."

"Well, I could have given you my ID card if you'd let me stay to sort through everything. I think I left it in the truck." I piped in.

"You mean the truck that burst out of the washing machine and destroyed it and our laundry room." The woman responded.

"Your washing machine was what destroyed my damn truck. I saw at least one broken light, not to mention the front grill and the windows. Do you know how much of a pain it is to get the glass to replace those? Nevermind the engine damage, it'll take me weeks to get it up and running again."

"How inconvenient for you, nevermind the good month the entire school will go without a laundry room."

"That's not my fault!"

"Regardless of whose fault it is, the headmaster has requested to see you immediately about this and other matters."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened.

"I was hoping it could have waited until morning, but in light of the recent incident we decided answers were pertinent."

"Well, at least we agree there."

The room I was floated into looked like someone hollowed out a clock to make room for a very spacious office. It was one of those huge spaces that looked impressive because of how little stuff was in there. Honestly, it looked more like a security risk as it was a large room on the top of a large building. In normal standards, such spaces seemed more secure because they were high up, so individual forces had to expend more effort to get up here. But considering the room seemed to be half made of glass, I could see a few jutsus which would shatter this place with very little effort. Which would be unfortunate considering there seemed to be a few tons of metal cogwork hanging above the room past the glass ceiling.

Sitting in the lone desk in the room was a man dressed in a dark green suit with white hair and tiny Benjamin Franklin sunglasses. He was holding a cup of coffee, which he took a deep sip from as we approached his desk.

He seemed unshaken by the woman in pajamas telekinetically carrying me across the room. In fact, he didn't even move that much as I was set down in a chair across from the desk and the woman left the room, presumably to get back to sleep.

It was only when she left that he actually spoke.

"Good evening."

"Good evening." I responded, if only to be polite.

"It seems we haven't been introduced properly."

"Well, no one had really told me anything, so…"

"Quite," He responded, setting down his coffee mug. "I am Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"Okay, hi, I'm Ume."

I responded with little fanfare. The man wasn't surprised at my response or bluntness. A little bit amused and immensely curious, but not surprised. Given, if he ran a school, he probably wasn't unused to speaking to people younger than him.

"Just Ume." He inquired.

"Where I'm from, orphans aren't given surnames." I responded. "But that's not really what you want to ask me about, is it?"

There was a pause before he spoke again, the curiosity still there, but tempered with calm and determination. He was probably either controlling his emotions or used to unusual happenings, probably both. This place was pretty damn weird, and apparently he was running the show.

"No, your name isn't really as important as what you did."

He tapped a few things on the desk and a screen came up, projecting an video of a forest. Said video was from a vantage point in the clearing and showed what happened this afternoon. Particularly the point where I killed the scorpion.

"You saw that monster and killed it, do you know what that monster was?"

"A giant scorpion?" I inquired.

There was a tint of amusement coming off the man again before he responded.

"The proper term is deathstalker, it is a creature of the grimm. Did you know what's strange about how you killed it?"

"No, not really. Most things will pretty much die if you shove a two foot metal blade into their eye sockets."

The man actually let out a chuckle at this.

"Well, yes, but considering the fact that even though it's weaker than the surrounding area, even the eyes of a grimm are considerably tougher than a normal creature's. I couldn't tell you the exact toughness, but the amount of strength required to push that through is not something usually found in someone so young."

Or small, which wasn't stated outright.

"Um, unless I'm mistaken, that girl in red was running around with a scythe that was almost as big as she was and that's not in question."

"Miss Ruby Rose, as she is called, has an unlocked aura."

"So let's pretend I don't actually know what that means."

I responded quickly. It sounded familiar, naggingly so, but having some actual information about why a bunch of teenagers were in the middle of the woods would have been nice.

Me saying so created the first feelings of surprise in the man, though he didn't show it on his face.

"You don't know what aura is?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"No one's told me anything. All I got out of the last conversation was that this was a school and most of the students won't be happy that they won't be getting clean underwear for a month."

"Aura is the manifestation of someone's soul, their entire being. All living beings have it. Someone who has an unlocked aura can use it to strengthen themselves, make themselves faster, to protect themselves from injury and use special abilities unique to them. It is considered a vital tool by huntsmen in their fights against the grimm. Which is why it's particularly unusual that you defeated this deathstalker without your's being unlocked."

"Honestly, once it was pinned, it wasn't that hard."

I said.

"I'm pretty sure Miss Rose could have stabbed that scorpion in the eye if she thought to do so, or the girl in white could have with her sword."

"They very well could have, but you did so with little trouble or hesitation. Nevermind you appeared to travel a significant distance in a very short amount of time using your aura, which suggests a semblance."

"A what now?"

"A semblance, it is a manifestation of someone's aura that is unique to them. A special ability or advantage that is a representation of their soul."

That sounded familiar too.

"Well, okay then. So you want to know what exactly?"

"That's very simple, how did you exhibit such strength and speed?"

I looked at the man who spoke in a serious tone, pushing more authority in his voice as he looked at me.

"I suppose you wouldn't believe it was just adrenaline."

There was no answer to that as he looked at me. Expectation and curiosity were ebbing out of him.

"Right, well, I know what aura is now, we just call it something different where I'm from."

I scratched my nose a little as I tried to think of how I should put this.

"As for why I can use it, well that's a bit of a long story."

"Well, Miss Ume, since there is no doubt stacks of paperwork I need to sign to send in repair work for our newly destroyed laundry room, I'd say we have all night."

* * *

 **Posting a day early.**

 **Also adding a note, I've decided to update Sugar Plums every other Sunday, while keeping PITD every Monday. Mostly because Sugar Plums takes more time and effort to produce (managing a plot you made up yourself rather than piggy backing off an existing world is much harder). Anyway, I'll try to keep a steady schedule but in my last semester so stuff may get in the way.**

 **Anyway, love some feedback, so reviews!**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The world was a vast and mysterious place.

It was something that Professor Ozpin knew from experience. The very nature of his work with hunters and huntresses meant dealing with the fantastical and ridiculous. In fact, the nature of semblances and aura as well as the laws of reality they very regularly violated meant that he had to be very flexible in what he was willing to believe and accept.

That didn't make this situation any less strange, however.

When the newly formed Team JNPR brought this small girl for medical attention he wasn't initially sure what to make of her. Wrapped from the head down in bandages with bright magenta and dark purple cloth around her as well as a cat laying on her chest, she looked nothing more than a normal child. Now that she was awake, he compared her big eyes and small features to a doll, but that comparison ended as he examined her without the bandages wrapping her body.

In the video it was not clear looking at her, but up close it was a different case.

She was in her colorful clothing again, but it was worn differently. The sleeves were gone, as she had wrapped the cloth more around her torso, exposing her arms and neck completely. This Ume was very muscular for a little girl, it wasn't a bodybuilder's muscle, but more the lithe and tight muscle of either someone who did regular rigorous work like a laborer or a farmer, or more likely of someone trained to fight like a martial artist or, in her case, a swordswoman.

But that wasn't as distinctive as the scars.

With little trouble he could tell from the discoloration she had suffered from burns on her neck that went under her clothing, suggesting it extended to her torso and right shoulder. Though it wasn't as obvious as the burns on the wrist of her right arm, which had a ragged circular discolored band on it. Given, the right arm was tame compared to the left, considering that from the elbow down the left arm was gone, the stub covered with scars that went up her arm like veiny dark lines against her skin. Then there was the replacement forearm that was stuck onto the end of the stubbed elbow. It was a curious piece of equipment that she only really moved when she needed to grip something. In fact, the three wooden fingers on the end of the sphere that one could call her fake palm to the cylinder that was supposed to act as her forearm could only move move back and forth. It allowed the three thick pieces of wood to clamp onto something and let it go, but little else.

No, without the wraps covering her and the clothing worn in a baggy concealing way, the form in front of him painted a much different picture about who this girl was and where she came from. Though that raised more questions than it answered.

Regardless of where this girl came from, she at least didn't seem overly hostile or volatile in personality. Ozpin had occasionally seen hunters awaken from strange circumstances destroy things or lash out in their confusion, but this girl seemed to take the shift in surroundings if not well, then at least with a measure of thoughtfulness and restraint.

Still, that didn't change the mystery that surrounded her.

"So what do you call aura where you are from?" Ozpin inquired.

"We call it chakra."

"I see."

He had heard of the word before. It was one used in some of the older cultures that used to reside on one of the now dark continents. Was she from that area?

"So how is it that you can use this, chakra, without having it unlocked?"

By all accounts that should be impossible.

"Well, how do you use aura?" She countered, her expression neutral.

"Most people with few exceptions can't use or amplify their aura since most people don't have it unlocked. Someone who does have it unlocked can use it in two ways. Passively it's more something that surrounds a hunter, it protects them, taking what would normally be lethal blows and healing them when they are resting. Though if someone depletes their aura by taking too much damage this protection goes away."

This was all generic information that could be found in a book, in several books actually. The Beacon library had an entire section dedicated just to the study, even that didn't cover the amount of time and research that was spent on determining the nature of aura.

Ume nodded along with this, grey eyes meeting his as he spoke. They were a duller, darker shade than that of Ruby Rose. If Ruby Rose's eyes could be described as silver, Ume's eyes would be more like iron or steel.

"Actively, hunters can manifest aura as a semblance, which is an ability unique to them. Most people consider semblances as a manifestation of the user's very soul. With training and focus hunters can also become stronger and faster than a normal person ever could, or can manifest aura in other ways. Though that latter case is very rare."

"So it's always on, it takes no effort to maintain it?"

"That is correct. Once someone's aura is unlocked it will always provide automatic protection unless it is depleted by taking damage."

Ume sat back in the chair and put a clenched fist on her mouth. She sat like that for a minute or two before speaking again.

"So it's like, armor really, armor powered by the soul."

"As prompt a description as any."

"So why doesn't everybody have an unlocked aura?"

The question was one he had heard many times. Though usually not from huntsmen. It was a common enough inquiry when it came to aura. People were injured all the time for mundane reasons.

"The answer to that would be because of the grimm. The deathstalker you killed in the forest is known as a creature of the grimm, they are a constant and deadly threat to this world, especially because of the fact that they can sense human emotions."

"They can?" The question came quickly and the girl seemed surprised. "They're empathic?"

"Indeed they can, specifically they can sense, and are drawn to, negative emotions. It has been found through studies and research that the act of unlocking a person's aura outwardly amplifies the range at which a grimm can sense them and thus seek them out."

"Oh, so, anybody who has an unlocked aura basically has a target painted onto them."

"Yes, it's considered extremely irresponsible to unlock the aura of someone who doesn't at least have some minimum of fighting experience for risk of them drawing in grimm and thus putting themselves and others at risk."

"So that's why a bunch of those creatures showed up when all those teenagers were together, they were all confused, scared and panicky."

Ume paused as she went over the words again.

"Why exactly did you throw a bunch of teenagers with targets painted onto them into a forest full of creatures trying to kill them again? One of them nearly got killed."

"It was a test, Miss Ume."

"Really?" Ume's expression set into a small scowl. "You tested them by throwing them to the wolves?"

"As you can tell,"  
He said gesturing the the video on the screen.

"We were monitoring the situation and could deploy help if it was deemed necessary. Also, all those who were sent into the forest were either tested here specifically or verified through transcripts from previous schools for weapon and combat proficiency before we ever just threw them to the wolves. They would not have been put into a situation they shouldn't have been able to handle."

"And still one of them nearly died because not a single one of them had a lick of sense."

There was a pause.

"No, the girl with red hair who ran away, she had some sense, the blonde girl too. Though it looked like she had literally no range to her attacks and no way to close the distance if she really needed to."

Ume's nostrils flared with a light breath as she recounted the incident.

"The white girl though, she only really acted when someone was in trouble. But she stopped in the middle of a combat situation to talk. Seriously, what if that creature had broken the ice while she was berating Miss Rose? They both could have died from the distraction. Never mind that none of them bothered to help the red headed girl even though two of them could have gotten to her with very little effort."

"Those are all valid thoughts, Miss Ume. Though I should note you didn't act, either."

"I had a concussion! You shouldn't mold chakra when you have a concussion. Molding chakra is very focus intensive and doing so when your brain is swelling can cause all sorts of problems. Also, I had no idea how strong that creature even was, I'd never seen anything like it before. I could only really attack it once it had its pincer in the ice. It was really stuck too, so with that out of the way all I had to do was clear its front claws so it couldn't bend enough to knock me off its head."

Those were all good points, points that could only be brought up and rationalized by someone who had experience in combat.

"Yet, you still took that risk."

"Well, I was actually just going to cut that cape off Miss Rose so she could run away, but the white girl beat me to the punch."

"The white girl's name is Weiss Schnee if you would like to know."

"Regardless, the moment I heard Miss Schnee start talking, I knew she wasn't going to stop. That was the start of a tangent if I ever heard one."

She let out another breath through her nose.

"God, it was so stupid."

"You said there would be complications because you had a concussion, that you needed to focus. Does that have to do with how you covered such a long distance or why you passed out shortly after killing the deathstalker?"

Ume looked up at Ozpin at the question. She had seemed lost in her thoughts for a moment, but seemed more attentive now.

"Oh yeah, well, probably because of the concussion. Um, so you guys train to use your aura and your semblances right? You have to sort of focus?"

"It depends on the person and the semblance, but most active semblances need some concious effort, yes."

"Where I'm from that's called molding, as you heard. You focus your chakra inside of you and you mold it to do a specific task. It's very thought and focus intensive as I said, to do even simple tasks also often requires seals and physical names. As for the moving, I was actually just jumping the distance. I did so while molding chakra into my feet in such a way that it propelled me forward very quickly, then molding chakra to stop myself at a certain point."

"I see, so you draw your aura out from your body using these signs."

"Kind of, almost every technique has a sign associated with it."

Ume started making several different signs with her one hand.

"Simple ones usually use one one or two signs, more complicated ones can use anywhere from six or seven to even twenty or more signs. Though they really don't mean anything, it's just a trick to create a route to make your body's chakra respond in a certain way. If you practice enough you can use some of the techniques with less or no signs at all. Mind you, most people don't get to that level for anything very complicated without decades of training."

"And how long have you been training?"

It seemed a logical question to pose. Clearly she could do these things even if these explanations didn't match current research. Though Ozpin didn't know how much research had been done on manipulating aura with someone who hadn't had it unlocked. Usually, it was hunters who had this sort of research done with.

"Eight years."

"Ah, and how old are you exactly?"

"I'm thirteen."

That meant she had been training to manipulate aura since she had been five years old. Ozpin had heard of children starting training that young, though usually it was almost all physical in nature. Aura was considered a complex and dangerous thing for someone so young, especially since semblances were always varied in their capabilities. It was impossible to tell what someone would get for a semblance until it happened, so it was usually reserved for training at an older age where they might not hurt themselves and others. Though this might be a different case for someone without an unlocked aura.

"Who trained you in the use of your aura?"

That seemed an obvious segway. As bright as this girl was, this didn't seem like information she could stumble upon herself.

"I was trained at a school with other students."

A school made sense, though he hadn't heard of any hunting schools who started so young.

"You started this school at five years old? Or were you trained beforehand?"

"I started school at five. Though the normal age for starting it is eight, I got in a little early. Though honestly, going at five isn't unheard of."

"I see, what's the name of this school?"

There was a pause, Ume seeming to think before shrugging her shoulders.

"We just call it the academy, it's never had a specific name."

"Alright, so where is this academy? Is that where you're from?"

"Yeah, it's an chain of islands called collectively the Mizu no Kuni, that roughly translates as the Land of Water. The academy is in a large village called Kirigakure, which means village hidden in the mist."

Ozpin tapped a few times on his desk. There were actually keys embedded into the surface, but they were blank so it was harder for someone unfamiliar with it to use it. The holoscreen changed from the scene in the forest to a full map of Remnant. It didn't surprise him he hadn't heard of where she was from. Much of the world was unexplored because of the grimm. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility she was from a place or area so small and isolated that it developed completely independently of the rest of the world. There were hundreds of villages that existed out of normal contact outside of the large kingdoms, after all.

"Could you point it out?"

For the next several minutes, Ume stared at the map. Ozpin could tell she was searching, but at the end of it she put up her hands.

"I don't think I see it. Though I can't be sure about the scale, the truth is I've never seen a map that covered such a large surface area before. The only maps I've ever seen only showed the Land of Water and some of the neighboring countries. I don't even really know how big everything is in comparison to the rest of the world, so I have no point of reference to where it could possibly be."

"Do you know anything of the climate? That's usually a clue to the general area."

"That would be if the climates around the different countries weren't screwy as hell in terms of relative. The Land of Water is aptly named because it's either hot, cold or wet, pick two. The other nations are more or less one continent that has variable climates that range from frozen wasteland, to temperate farmland, to stormy mountain ranges and full out deserts. There are tons of theories as to why such different climates exist in such close proximity to each other, though most people think it has to do with with the way the chakra runs in the land there."

"Through the land?"

"Through Ryu Myaku or dragon veins, also known as ley lines."

"Ley lines? I have heard of those, but there is no confirmed research on those."

Mostly because following such leads would require the travel of machines that could measure aura. They were much too expensive to send out on expeditions outside the safety of the kingdom walls.

"I'm pretty sure they exist. Though whether they've always existed or are a result of chakra seeping out of living creatures into the land around them is up for debate. But it's commonly accepted that natural chakra, as it's called, exists in the air, water, and land of anywhere things can live and thrive and that the most powerful concentrations of it exist in the ley lines, which act like rivers where they pool and flow through the earth."

"How did your community confirm such things?"

"That's simple, with sensors."

"Some kind of machine?"

"Nah, people, sensor is a blanket term for anybody with an extraordinary sense, sometimes it's something like they can see, hear or smell things better, but other times it's people who can sense in some shape or form chakra."

"You can confirm these things with these sensors?"

"Well, we confirm it with sensors and other formative data collected over time. The study of natural chakra is actually very important because places that have abundant amounts of it, like along or at intersections of ley lines, are naturally more full of life. Sometimes they're something like a lush oasis in the desert or a hot spring with healing properties in the mountains. A lot of the time, though, large forests filled with animals or good farmland is found among ley lines. It's accepted that if you want a good place to grow things or just live in general, you do so where there's an abundant amount of natural chakra. Temples and ancient cities are good places to look for such sorts of things."

That made a good measure of sense. Some people are drawn to certain areas when they look for places to live, usually it's strategic like its defensibility or how close it is to water, but sometimes it can also be because of a feeling.

"As interesting as that is, I feel we have gotten off topic. You said you don't know where you were on this map and the climate wouldn't be helpful in determining where it is. So the question is, if you don't know where you're from, do you know where this is? Or even how you got here?"

"I do not." She replied. "I truly have no idea why I ended up here, or even how it's possible that I did."

Which was suspicious in its own right. Not impossible, there were known semblances that involved using portals and teleportation, but that wouldn't explain how she would be ignorant of her circumstances. If she were a spy, she wasn't making in much way of an approach. Nevermind the amount of information she was providing. It could all be false or made up, but that was an extraordinary amount of effort to put into a story, especially since there were much more plausible and less risky ways to make an approach than appearing in a forest during the initiation.

"What is it you were doing before you came here, Miss Ume?"

This gave her pause.

"I was trying to learn how to use this new sewing machine I got."

"Sewing machine, are you a seamstress?"

"Nah, I sew as a hobby."

"How did that lead to you being here?"

There was a pause as she thought how to respond again. A long pause at that, before she let out a breath.

"Well, I think there was an accident with my one of my siblings."

"An accident?"

"Yeah, she sort of, accidently, made a black hole."

This caused Ozpin's eyebrows to raise. That was, well, it wasn't impossible, but quite close.

"How did she manage to accidentally create a black hole?"

"I'm still not exactly sure. She experiments a lot with chakra, well, aura. Screwing with the physics of things is sort of a specialty of hers."

Ume let out another sigh, her eyes looking up.

"But it was an accident, and she almost got sucked in."

"She did?"

"I managed to grab onto her and push her forward using chakra counter to the black hole's suction. We were both hanging in there for a moment after she got a grip onto something. I was watching the black hole and it seemed to start to collapse in onto itself but…"

She put a hand on her forehead.

"Right, my sewing machine, I got hit in the head with my sewing machine when it was pulled loose by the suction. It, it made me lose my grip and I got sucked in."

There was silence as the two of them sat there. The only real noise was that of Danny, who was just sitting in Ume's lap enjoying a nap while yawning slightly.

It was Ozpin who broke the silence.

"That's quite a story."

"You don't believe me." Ume stated outright.

"It's not a common story, for certain. I can't completely discount it, though there is no proof."

"Well, that's true. I can't prove what I just said."

"Yes, though you have been quite forthcoming with the information you provided. Most people would be more cautious in such a situation."

To this, Ume sort of scratched her head.

"Well, honestly, I don't really benefit much from lying to you. Especially since most of what I told you isn't really a secret. Besides, despite the incident with the laundry, you guys haven't really done anything to justify me being overly mistrustful. I mean, two of the teenagers in the forest did save me and you didn't lock me up or anything or try and interrogate me."

"Were you expecting such treatment?"

"Kind of," The girl closed an eye with a wince. "The neighboring countries to where I'm from aren't generally very, neighborly. Let's just say there's been a lot of bad blood in our history."

"Most countries have such things."

Ozpin reached down and took a sip of his coffee cup, it was only then he noticed the time. It was nearly five am at this point.

"Though why someone would do something like that to a small girl is suspect."

"Yeah, that may have to do with my occupation."

"Occupation? I thought you attended an academy?"

"No, I haven't been at the academy for a few years now."

"I see, so what is your occupation?"

Ume held a hand to her mouth before replying.

"I'm not sure what the best description would be for it. I guess mercenary? Though not really, I'm not like working for the highest bidder. I'd say I'm a trained fighter who takes requests that's sorted through my village and deployed usually with a team to solve problems. Sometimes they're pretty mundane problems, like babysitting or gardening, sometimes it's stuff like investigating disappearances or bodyguard work, I'm pretty popular for that one."

"So you're part of a company that deploys your services?"

"Not a company, the village as a whole acts as a home that works directly for the government of the Land of Water. All requests have to be approved and vetted by those who work above me. They generally decide what is and is not appropriate and rank them by difficulty." Ume replied.

"Hmm,"

Trained at a school, deployed in groups to solve problems, works directly for the government. Apart from a clear age difference, and it was a startling one to set someone so young to such a task, he couldn't deny the parallels weren't hard to draw.

"You know Miss Ume, that sounds very much like what a huntress does?"

"Well, what's a huntress?"

The question came as Ozpin thought it would. It was quite strange how little she knew and what she asked about. He suspected a spy would be digging for knowledge that wasn't quite so common.

"A huntress or hunter is someone who does some of what you suggested, they are deployed and controlled by the council or whatever ruling body commands their kingdom. Mostly though, they are men and women who are trained to hunt and keep at bay the creatures of the grimm."

"So like the creatures in the forest."

"Yes, the reason we sent those students into the forest was so they would encounter and fight those creatures. This is because this is Beacon Academy, the main hunter school of the kingdom of Veil."

"Those creatures, how many of them are there exactly? Are they really that big of a threat?" Ume asked a little bit cautiously.

"They are, it is no exaggeration to say that they have driven humanity to only having four true safe havens in the entire world of Remnant to protect them from attacks. Those who live outside these cities are dependant on hunters and huntresses to defend them or be wiped out. It is only through their efforts here and in the villages that humanity has been able to continue its existence."

"So, basically, the future of humanity rests with those kids I met in the woods?"

"If they pass their training and graduate, then yes, someday they will have such a responsibility on their shoulders."

Ume paused and blinked at him before looking up at the map again before looking at him.

"You guys are fucked."

* * *

The headmaster didn't laugh at my exclamation. Though there was some slight amusement in his emotions. The same ever present calm as well. He had been surprised quite a few times during the conversation, but the entire time we were speaking his emotions never strayed into the dread of suspicion or paranoia. He didn't mean to hurt me, or if he did, he had such a firm control over his emotions he would never show it.

Which considering the fact that he didn't know I could read his emotions as they came to him, I didn't find likely. After taking a sip of coffee, he spoke again.

"They may seem indecisive and immature to you Miss Ume, but most of the students have until this point only fought and trained under very controlled conditions or being monitored closely by a nearby adult. For many of them this will be the first time they will spend any extended period of time away from their home and their families."

Okay, he probably got me there. No one did great their first time out. I know my first official assignment didn't have stellar results.

Given, most missions that kill roughly seventy percent of the participants weren't great gauges to go by.

Professor Ozpin continued speaking.

"This is intentional. For most of them, the first year is a taste of living, to an extent, away from the rules and regulations of their household, and by extension experiencing the consequences of their own choices instead of those of their parents."

So basically it was college, and that was the freshman class. Well, monster hunter college, but still college.

"How old are most of them?"

"Excluding Miss Ruby Rose, almost all the freshman are about seventeen, though there are one or two older students. Miss Ruby Rose is fifteen."

She didn't act like any fifteen year olds I knew. Given, most the fifteen, well, sixteen year olds I knew acted way more mature than I did when I was twenty five. Both in terms of responsibility they were willing to take on and the way they handled themselves in, well, in general.

God, my perception really was skewed. Wherever I was the tech level was way above the elemental nations, they had freaking holograms for god's sake, so it's more reasonable to assume the kids here were just given more time to be kids.

Which was great unless, you know, they were supposed to be some powerful warriors set to defend the world from creatures of darkness.

"But that would be a question for later. It is getting late, or early if you prefer the term, so we may talk more about this later, but I do have a question for you, Miss Ume."

"Alright, shoot." I replied.

"If I were to believe your story, then I must believe you have no real intention to stay here." He continued.

"Well, I'd like to go home as soon as possible, yes. But…"

"You aren't sure how."

"I am not sure how." I confirmed.

"That does present quite a conundrum for you."

"It wouldn't have, if you guys hadn't taken my stuff." I said, a little irritated.

"Yes, the incident in the laundry room. How in the world did that actually happen?"

"Well, the wraps I had on me, they weren't normal wraps. They were actually seals, a type of technique one uses to focus chakra. A seal is basically, well, how do I say this. Oh I know, you know programs for a computer, right?"

"I am familiar with the concept, yes."

"Well, you know, it's basically a very detailed step by step process that is automated and does things quickly, a seal's like that."

"A seal, automates aura?"

There was a curious edge, as well as some anticipation to his mood.

"Uh huh, a seal can only do one task assigned to it with much less focus. It's also incredibly chakra efficient, since none is wasted in the task."

"So, the seals that you were wearing, why did they destroy the laundry room?"

"Well, they were all storage seals, their task was to, well, store things. That meant they all had things in them, some of them were big things, and the seals were made of ink. When the ink was washed away in the machine, it broke the seal and…"

"Released the contents." Ozpin finished the sentence before taking a sip of his coffee. "Is that a normal occurrence for storage seals?"

"Not normally no, partially because most people don't put storage seals on clothing, usually seals are either on paper or parchment, depending on how permanent it's supposed to be. Also, the ink isn't supposed to be easy to wash out. But then again, where I'm from we don't have industrial sized washing machines as you call them. I also usually don't use very strong soap when I wash them, for that reason."

"Yes, I suppose that is a good reason. Though the incident in the laundry room wasn't something any of us at the school could have predicted happening given the circumstances. Is there a particular reason why you carry so many things with you that it would cause such a mess?"

"I like to be prepared."

That was pretty true too, in the bandages I had wrapped around my body I had enough food for a single person for at least two months, a truck to drive around with, several batteries, two or three tents, five tea sets, three changes of clothes, a full medical kit, some emergency money, a heater, several canteens of water, a futon, chopped prepared firewood, cooking supplies as well as a bunch of just general tools and things to have. I wasn't exactly expecting to travel so suddenly, but the nature of my work, especially since I'd been doing more and more missions to make updated maps meant I spent a lot of time traveling just in general. When I wasn't traveling, well just having everything I could ever want or need on me was just plain handy. It meant I never had to waste time going back to my house if I needed something, or traveling back and forth between locations for supplies. I could more or less survive on my own anywhere if I still had my stuff.

But now most of it was ruined.

"That is a respectable mindset."

The professor said again.

"That aside, that does beg the question as to what you plan to do next. You don't seem to have much in ways of terms of resources in you at the moment."

"No, but that doesn't mean I can't manage if I truly need to. I'm not helpless, after all."

"Indeed you are not." Setting down his coffee cup he leaned forward a bit, steepling his fingers together. "Though I have a counter offer for you if you would consider it."

I knew that was coming. The anticipation in him was growing steadily throughout the conversation. He had something of a flair for the dramatic in his casualness, but I couldn't say I minded terribly. Someone being excited about possibilities was easier to work with than someone being scared of what you were capable of.

Though I suppose if he truly understood what I WAS capable of, I don't think I could prevent him from actually being afraid of me.

"You want me to stay here."

He didn't blink or seemed surprised that I suspected as much.

"Yes, I would."

"In what capacity?" I replied. That was question.

"Unofficially, I can't keep you here in any capacity, assuming where you are from has no contact with the four kingdoms."

"It does not." I replied.

"Then, legally, as far as the four kingdoms are concerned, you don't exist."

"True, no birth records, no tax records, parentage, nothing. I could literally disappear right now and no one would be the wiser."

"While a possibility, I have no intention of keeping you prisoner; but unofficially I would like you to stay here on the grounds of learning new things."

"Would that be me learning new things or you learning new things?"

"Why can it not be both? This is an academy and knowledge is one of the gifts of humanity."

"You mean one of the curses." I replied.

"In that case it is both." Ozpin replied. "Though I am surprised you think so, since you give it so freely."

"Tit for tat Professor, I am repaying hospitality and nothing more. Your students saved my life after all, so I am offering information as it is the only thing to offer that could approach that value."

There was a smile on the older man's face when I finished.

"You value life so much."

"Any decent person should. It is, after all, the only thing worth dying for."

And it was the only thing I had ever made a conscious decision to truly risk mine for. Though my siblings didn't appreciate the sentiment.

"That leaves the question, will you stay here, so we can further discuss things? Your insight on the nature of aura is one that I haven't seen before. Which, considering how much I have learned on it, is very rare."

"So you want me to stick around so you can pick my brain."

"That and so you could stay safe. While I am sure you can handle yourself, your clear ignorance of this world puts you at a disadvantage to some of the more unsavory figures in it."

The concern was there, so he probably wasn't lying. Not that I would doubt that, there would always be unsavory types no matter where one goes. People will be people.

"Of which, considering the nature of what an unlocked aura does, there are several." I let out a breath. "Unless that's a closely guarded secret which only those at the schools know."

"Unfortunately no, even if it was, it wouldn't likely stay one for long. Humans have always had the capacity to choose and sometimes even those who have trained entire lifetimes to be guardians can choose less savory paths."

"Free will does put a damper on keeping everything nice and orderly like that." I said. "But you are right. I need to gather more information before I can truly move forward. To do otherwise would be foolish."

It wouldn't do to make any moves if I had no idea how the board looked, after all, and this was a brand new board almost completely. Just like in battle though, I'd need to look at the situation fully before making any solid decisions. A school like this would be a good place to do that, though…

"You're not gonna make me like, a student or anything? I'm not gonna have to attend classes?"

"You may sit in on classes if you wish. The first years in particular cover much in terms of history and theory, but I can't expect you to do things like homework or assignments if that's what you were thinking about. You aren't actually enrolled, after all."

"Gotcha, but what exactly are you gonna tell everyone else? You can't exactly say I just appeared here via black hole."

"I can make arrangements for that just fine and have something ready by tomorrow. No need to worry about that."

He sat back again, picking up his coffee cup.

"Though now I must say, it is still quite late and you are recovering from injury. You may want to head back to the infirmary for now."

"I'd rather not, it's not particularly comfortable on those cots."

He seemed to consider this for a second before nodding.

"Alright, I'll send Miss Goodwitch to see if there are other arrangements available at the moment."

"I mean, all I need is a bed, doesn't matter if it's in a closet or an empty classroom. Just something softer than those slabs. I'd just use my futon, but I don't feel like unburying it from the laundry room right this moment."

"Yeah, that does need to be taken care of. I was going to send a cleaning crew in to take care of it."

"Could you hold off on that? I want to comb through it thoroughly. I managed to grab a couple of the seals that weren't broken before the blonde."

"Miss Goodwitch." He corrected.

"Right, Miss Goodwitch plucked me from the pile to bring me here."

"I'll be sure to notify you." There was a pause. "And after I'd like to take a good look at these seals of yours."

"We can discuss that later." I replied.

I wasn't exactly going to let him just have storage seals and their tricks. That could and probably would get pretty messy pretty quickly in the wrong hands. Never mind how easy it would be to steal things with them, especially since Minami sort of designed them with that purpose in mind.

"Alright, then if you head to the elevator that should be Miss Goodwitch."

"Kay,"

I stood up, grabbing Danny into my arms before heading out of the office and turning.

"Good night then, though I suppose you aren't going to sleep with that much caffeine in you."

"I have a schedule to keep Miss Ume, several actually. Though that shouldn't keep you up. Good night, Miss Ume."

* * *

 **This chapter used to be two, but I decided to combine them because it's basically one long discussion.**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

They had an unused bedroom on the first year dormitory. I didn't pay much mind to it when I got there as I was actually quite tired. I had spent at least two hours talking to the headmaster of the school and I was still pretty drained, so I just chose a bed and keeled over.

When I woke though, I got a better look at the room. It was a pretty big bedroom, though that was only if you discounted the fact that there were four beds in it. In that case, it was actually pretty small if four people had to live in such close quarters. Given, making people live in close quarters was a pretty good way to make people deal with each other. It was the same at the ninja academy. Given, the barracks we lived in housed twenty eight students, not four. Having spent four years together there we were all pretty close when graduation came around.

Which made what happened at the graduation all the more gruesome.

A soft meow pulled me from my thoughts. Danny was yawning and pawing at my shirt as I stirred. It was a soft persistent meow that I recognized.

"(Hungry, huh?)"

He looked at me, pawing my chest more. My own stomach ached and groaned as soon as I gave it attention. I could ignore hunger if I needed to, but having to heal as much as I did put a strain on the body. Not to mention there were other needs to be taken care of.

After using the restroom I caught a glance at myself in the mirror. Wow, I was a mess. Though the bruises were gone, my hair and face were dirty, it hung from my scalp like straw and it…

My eyes widened in panic as I felt around my head for a moment. No, no, it was gone! Shit, where was it…

The forest, it had to be, I was wearing it when I went through the hole, I had to go, I had to, it was, she was I…

I felt the furry weight on my shoulders, a fuzzy face rubbing into mine. Glancing up, I looked at the cat as he looked at our reflection. It was a comfort, a warm simple comfort that helped me gather myself.

"(Right, right, calm down. You're right)"

Leaning down, I washed my face with some water. Looking through the drawers, I found a comb and used it to straighten out my hair, though there were no hair ties.

Looking up again, I felt a little bit better having cleaned up a little bit, but I was still worried. I'd have to go back to get it, though I needed to be smart about it. I couldn't just rush out into some unknown woods even if, even if I had left that there. Especially as hungry as I was, I'd run out of energy quickly and I didn't have my wraps on me to eat some rations either.

I set my hand down on the counter, looking down at the two of them. I should probably change out the wooden prosthesis for one of the more advanced ones, assuming they hadn't broken with the other things that flew out of the seals.

Well, food first.

I found the stairs and headed to the ground floor. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I found a little wooden case with pamphlets tucked into it. Grabbing one, I flicked it open and found a map. So probably for visitors. That was nice.

Wherever this place was, it was definitely of a higher technology level and more modern. The fact that the Elemental Nations were so primitive in comparison made it a stark contrast.

It would bug me more if I didn't know the Elemental Nations were capable of getting to this level. Kumo was making leaps and bounds into that technology, even the Land of Water, as behind as we were because of the stagnation caused by the closing of the borders, was making progress. It would take time, but we had been acclimating well. There were so many projects in motion right now that given a decade or two we could catch right back up to the other nations and surpass them in some ways.

Not that it was anywhere near this, but it wouldn't take long, relatively speaking.

I found the dining hall pretty quickly on my map. It was well drawn, so I could find it, though as I did I got my first real look at the school. It was absolutely huge, lots of big stone buildings with huge windows separated by well maintained lawns, stone walkways, statues and water features. To most people it would be a gorgeous and impressive local.

To me it looked like a death trap with security holes you could drive a tank through, quite literally.

Nevermind you could fit an army on the amount of open space between the buildings, creating little in way of choke points you could isolate potential threats. There were just so many places assassins or infiltrators could hide, be it in the buildings or the shrubbery. Unless that glass was stronger than I thought it was, it wouldn't hold off against any threat with any range capabilities, meaning that there was no safe place on campus to store people in case of emergency, at least on the surface. They probably had some bunkers somewhere, but at an initial glance it would be wide open for any and all attacks if it happened.

I think the only real security measure I could see was that there seemed to be no obvious way to get to Beacon short of flying. Looking at the map there didn't seem to be any walkways or entry points where one could walk into the city, being built on a plateau of sorts. Small blessings, but it didn't make me feel very safe regardless. Given, I suppose my standards were probably a little high as this place probably wasn't built to withstand attacks and endure battles like the Hidden Villages were. Nevermind they didn't seem to have even a basic grasp of how to manipulate chakra like shinobi.

Though they somehow had giant hate monsters, so I think it was probably still a valid concern. I mean, if a deathstalker, as it was called, or one of those giant birds came swooping in, it would still be a problem.

Maybe I should ask the headmaster about that.

Either way, I walked into the dining hall to find myself increasing my pace towards the delicious smells drifting from there. I didn't go as fast as I would normally have, no need to scare the staff behind the counter, but I was jogging when I got to the line up. There weren't many students in the hall yet. I grabbed a tray and started working down the line. They had an impressive selection for certain, I almost immediately grabbed several waffles, some biscuits and gravy, eggs for Danny, I should probably get some fruit to even out my palette and….

"(Oh my god, they have bacon!)"

My voice hit a pitch as I slid down the line and filled up my plate with the strips of meaty bliss. God, how long has it been. Actually, I knew the answer, thirteen freaking years was the answer. It was crispy too, and the smell... Damn, I wonder how much of this I could load up into a storage scroll? Wonder if I could order it in bulk for later.

Either way, I loaded up two plates balancing them top of each other before getting to the end of the line, though when I got to the end I paused at the person on the end.

"Um, do I have to pay for any of this?"

The person behind the counter shook their head.

"We were told you'd be coming down for breakfast. I assume it's you, there are no other little redheaded girls in pink kimonos around, are there?"

"Not that I know of."

I replied as I grabbed a bottle of juice and water from the selection and found a seat. Danny was smelling my food with interest as I set down the three plates. I poured him a small plate of water, as well as set out eggs for him.

I was about to take a bite when a shock of cheer hit me.

"Ohhh! Bacon."

A pink gloved hand slid across the wood, but I stopped it clear as my fork came down just in front of the fingers, piercing half an inch into the hardwood table.

"No."

My eyes locked into the blue spheres that looked back at me.

"Oh come on, not even one?" The voice complained.

"Nora," I heard the voice and felt the slight exasperation. "They have bacon in the tray still. But it looks like they might run out of pancakes if you don't hurry."

"What, no!"

There was a slight swish of air as the redhead sprinted to the lunch line. Behind her I felt a warm glow of a timid kindness next to it, a more casual embarrassment that positively shined by the boy. Looking up, I saw the blonde boy from the previous day and the girl with darker red hair in a ponytail.

"Sorry about that"

The blonde boy said, his embarrassment still there but more familiar recognition as well as curiosity came as well.

"Oh, you're the little girl from yesterday. The one with the uh, deathstalker."

"Ume,"

I replied as I reached down and bit into a piece of bacon. Chewing on it, closing my eyes enjoying the sensation on my tongue, oh so good.

"Oh, ah I'm Jaune." He replied.

"And this is my partner." He held up his hands to the side.

It didn't show on her face, but the glow increased when he introduced her as his partner, it wasn't a slight thing either. Huh, someone was happy.

"Hello there, my name is Pyrrha." She said in a soft spoken tone.

I finished the piece I was on before taking a drink of juice and speaking.

"Hi Pyrrha, hi Jaune, shouldn't you be getting in line for food before Nora eats all the pancakes?"

"Too late."

Ren said as he and Nora came back to the table. Nora toting a stack of pancakes so long it blocked her head.

"They weren't running out, silly Ren."

"Well, if they weren't out before, they are now."

He said as he set his own plate down. Fruit, some sausage, juice and rice, pretty balanced and simple.

"We should get some, then." Jaune turned to the line with Pyrrha in tow.

As soon as they were out of earshot I looked up Nora and Ren and said.

"So, what, three weeks before first date? Maybe four?"

"Oh I don't know, Jaune is so shy, I don't even think he notices."

Nora said as she took a fork and kabobed about four pancakes in a stack before taking a bite.

"Is it right to speculate about such things?" Ren said in a calm voice. "They've literally known each other for a less than a day."

"Oh, did all of you just meet yesterday?" I said before taking another bite of my bacon.

"Nah, me and Renny have known each other for like, ever. We travelled together a lot before we came to Beacon." Nora said, fondness flowing off of her as she spoke.

"I noticed you two are pretty familiar with each other, yeah. I'm Ume, by the way."

"Ah yes, we never exchanged names. I'm Lien Ren."

Ren said, holding a hand across the table. I wiped my hand off on a napkin before grabbing it for a shake. I could have tried eating with my wooden hand, but it really didn't have the dexterity to work a fork.

"I'm Nora Valkyrie, though you already called me Nora before."

"Well, you did basically yell it out in front of me yesterday when everyone was doing the roll call after the girl with the cape showed up."

I said, taking a small break from the bacon. I slathered some gravy on my biscuit and picked it up to take a bite.

"It just seemed the right thing to do at the time." She said, as she continued annihilating her pancakes.

"Well it wasn't any stranger than how you all were acting when the Deathstalker showed up."

I wiped my face with my napkin. Feeling the glow approach again, I glanced up at Pyrrha as she and Jaune reappeared with their trays.

"How long did you run with that giant scorpion on your tail, anyway?"

"Oh that?"

She seemed slightly embarrassed, but sat down taking the question with grace.

"I don't know, seemed longer than it probably was."

"Yeah, running for you life is like that." I said, taking a sip. "Though, if I have to really get away, I usually get a good distance away pretty quickly."

I said as I chewed on my biscuit some.

"I noticed that, you're actually pretty fast for a little girl." Jaune said this time.

"How in the world did you even move that fast? Hell, how'd you know how to kill that deathstalker?"

"The first answer is aura, the second is common sense. Eyes are always tender areas, it's instinctive for a creature to panic if you aim for an eye for a reason." I replied.

"I know, but you like, jumped onto a grimm and stabbed it like it was nothing, weren't you scared?"

"Of course I was scared, it was a giant freaking scorpion, but it wasn't going to stop. It was going to keep going until it killed something, so at that point the choice was obvious."

I replied.

"I mean, what's the point in having the ability to act if you don't?"

Silence hit the table as they seemed to look at each other a little awkwardly. There was embarrassment, some shame too, disbelief as well. Well, that was awkward. Was it something I said, almost certainly was. I turned to Nora and Ren and looked at them.

"Thank you, by the way."

This broke the tension as curiosity bubbled. Nora broke the silence first.

"For what?"

"For saving me, of course."

I said as I held up a hand.

"And for saving Danny. You found me in the forest, you fought off those bears to protect me, you didn't have to. So, thank you, and you know, thank you for taking care of me when I passed out."

"Oh that, that was nothing. We're huntsmen after all, that's what we're supposed to do."

Nora said.

"Though I would love a reward of some bacon."

I slammed my fork down into the table as her hand made her way towards my pile again and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm not THAT grateful."

There was a pause before laughter bubbled out of Nora's throat. It was a soft chuckle at first, but it grew louder and the others started to join in as well. Even Ren, who just let out a soft light sound near the end. It was an easy, casual cheer that permeated the group. Just like emotions cycled naturally in a single person, in a group it did the same. Cheer, calm, embarrassment, happiness, all mixed and circled into an easy satisfaction that lingered among the table. It felt nice, it was a positive synergy between the group as we sat and ate together.

* * *

Classes were supposed to start at 9am sharp that day, but were delayed as the headmaster called the students for an assembly. This was a relief to Team RWBY which, after spending a good two hours unpacking and assembling their makeshift bunk beds, were very nearly late when the speakers called them forward. Team JNPR had, like many of the people in the dorms, been woken by the early morning explosion and chose to unpack instead of just going back to sleep, which had been why they had been able to head down to breakfast when the assembly was called.

In fact, Team JNPR had gotten to the assembly hall first, which meant they were closer to the front as the hall was filled up with freshmen. This didn't really stop Team RWBY from finding them. In fact, Ruby Rose, the team leader spotted Jaune in the distance and made her way through the crowd despite the protests of her partner.

Team RWBY managed to get to Team JNPR just in time for Glynda Goodwitch to walk onto the stage. She walked to the center of the stage and spoke into the microphone.

"Would Miss Ume please come to the stage."

"Oh!"

Both teams turned their heads to see the small girl in the magenta kimono move past them and scramble up the stairs. As she got on stage it was clear to see she wasn't alone, as a black and white cat sat on her shoulders.

"Hey, isn't that...?"

Ruby started to speak but Weiss immediately shushed her even as other students started whispering in the crowd.

This whispering stopped, however, as Professor Ozpin walked onto the stage much like he did the previous day. Leaning forward onto his walking stick, he spoke into the microphone.

"Good morning, new freshman students. I am sure you are no doubt wondering why you have been called here instead of going straight to your first class, well, the answer to that is because we have a new guest in our school."

Ozpin held out a hand indicating Ume, who walked forward turned towards the freshman class and did a perfect ninety degree bow to them in response.

"This is Miss Ume, she is here to act as an auditor for the freshman classes. While not technically a student here, you are to treat her with the same kindness you are expected to treat each other."

There was a pause before he continued.

"After all, in light of a recent accident involving the laundry rooms that have made them no longer operational she has volunteered to gather any and all laundry you may have. So you can expect to see her at the end of each week so she may gather your clothing to take into Vale to be cleaned."

There were lots of whispers now, as well as a slight cheer of relief. As well as the very sharp and obvious turn of the girl in question's head as she stared at the headmaster.

"So please, make her feel at home during her stay here."

The dismissal in his voice was clear as he turned from the microphone and headed off of the stage, with Ume running on his heels.

* * *

Professor Ozpin didn't head immediately back to his office. Instead, he took a leisurely pace to the side of the school as the young girl that had recently come to their academy kept pace. He kept it up before stopping in front of the statue of two huntsmen standing on a rock and pausing. He didn't speak, didn't feel the need to, as it was only a matter of time before…

"Why didn't you warn me?"

Ume had kept up before getting here. He turned his head to look at her. She seemed to be glancing towards the edge of the Beacon grounds, but quickly turned her head back to him. The cat on her shoulders seeming content to watch this unfold from his perch.

"Partially, I was curious as to how you'd react."

"You were trolling me?" She responded in a flat voice.

"More like I was gauging how you'd respond in front of such a large crowd of people, or if you would contradict me."

He turned to her with a soft smile.

"You can tell a lot about people based on how they react when they're surprised."

"Considering my situation, was that really necessary? I've been surprised this entire time. I didn't even know this place existed, let alone most of the things you guys have. It's quite a shift from what I'm used to."

"Yet you don't seem surprised."

He responded.

"In fact, you've been remarkably calm about this entire situation. Far from your home, in an unknown place, surrounded by strangers."

She looked upwards at nothing, a sign she was thinking of something, probably remembering things as well, before ultimately shrugging her shoulders.

"Would you believe this isn't the worst place I've ever woken up in?"

"I would in fact believe so. You don't have the presence of someone sheltered. In fact, I could believe you likely have been through a lot to be so calm in a situation that would send most people into a panic."

"Panicking, as a general rule, never helps a situation. In fact, panic is usually the predecessor of some very bad decisions."

"Indeed," He responded, turning to the statue of two young hunters on a rock, and a beowolf just under it.

"So, laundry?"

It was a simple question, one of course he would answer after dropping it on her so suddenly.

"In this case, I thought it would be a good way to endear yourself to the other students. Even though you are not technically here as a student, your age and stature makes you an oddity among them. Seeing you at a regular basis will make them more comfortable with your presence, especially if you are doing them a service."

"And it saves you having to pay someone else to do it."

"There's plenty of staff who could take the laundry into Vale to do so, most of which are very well paid. The school is funded by the kingdom of Vale and the council money isn't the issue here. Transporting that much clothing safely, however is, and the risk of loss doing so on a weekly basis is likely to result in problems. While for the school uniforms that isn't much of a loss, students tend to get very disgruntled about losing any personal items, especially since clothing is considered a big part of a hunter's identity."

"I saw that, they all had very unique outfits, didn't they? Not a single one anything a normal person would wear, well okay, Jaune's is just a hoodie and jeans, but the others... it looks more like a costume than anything."

"Hunter's clothing is something that is tailored to the individual, usually in a particular color scheme as a way to make them stand out among the populace, but also because it marks them as a unique entity. That along with the unique insignia each and every hunter gets means the moment they arrive on the scene they can be identified as a symbol of hope."

"So it's a morale thing, because the sooner people see the hunters, the faster they'll stop panicking, which will lessen how many grimm will show up."

"Yes, they are to stand out as champions among normal people because champions bring peace and comfort. Though of course, if their champions are dirty and sweaty when they arrive..."

"I got it, it's a perception thing as much as it is a comfort thing. But you don't really expect me to wash all their clothing, right?" There was real concern in her voice.

"No, of course not. But I did see just how much it appeared you could carry on your person when I examined the laundry room this morning. If you can safely carry something as large as a truck without losing it, I thought it may be possible for you to safely store and carry the laundry into the city while some of the Beacon staff deal with the actual laundering."

"Oh, is that all? I can do that." She replied. "Though I'd need some time to reapply the seals on my wraps, I should have that ready by Saturday."

"That is good to hear."

It truly was, if her capacity to store things was as high as it seemed. It would save a lot of time, almost certainly. He wasn't sure of the exact numbers, but the amount of laundry the students of Beacon produced was enough to fill several bullheads normally, which would tie up a lot of their resources for something so simple.

"Also, after dropping off the clothing, you'd be free to roam the streets of Vale until the work is done. It is a pretty beautiful city, very large and I wouldn't want you to think you were just trapped at the academy. Though I will send an escort with you for the first few times to make sure you don't get lost."

"That's probably for the best." She conceded. "Though I could probably get back to Beacon on my own if it really came down to it."

That was an interesting statement, certainly.

"Regardless, I'll probably send one of the professors with you, and if you like you could probably do some shopping to help recoup some of your losses from the laundry room incident. You'll of course be given a small stipend to do so."

"That would be nice." The girl replied, though she paused for a moment, clearly thinking of something before turning towards him. "Could one of them maybe escort me somewhere else?"

"Where would you like to go?" That was the obvious response.

"Into the forest, I, I dropped something in there, I think it happened when I first arrived. It's, it's precious to me and I'd like to retrieve it. But it's probably not a good idea for me to go alone, I'd likely just get lost."

That was a simple enough request.

"I believe that can be arranged, in fact, I believe Professor Port was going to be heading into the forest tonight. There is no one better at navigating it on staff than him."

"That would be good, you'd think he'd mind having me along?"

"Professor Port wouldn't reject company, he does love telling a good story." Ozpin responded before turning around. "You can ask him yourself if you wish after he finishes his class with the freshmen."

She nodded, pushing some hair out of her face and behind her ear. Her hand found the cat, whom she spent a moment scratching absently. Its fuzzy face rubbed into her hand.

"I'll probably head to the laundry room first. I really need to sort through all that stuff, though it'll probably take a while."

"I'm sure I can ask some staff to assist you."

"No, no, I should really do it by myself, I had a couple of weapons stored in there and I wouldn't want anybody to accidently hurt themselves."

He did see her use a sword before, did she have more? It wasn't typical for a huntsman to have more than one weapon, but very often the weapons were multi-form and multifunctional both so they could change style as needed in the middle of combat to limit how much they had to carry. Though given she could carry much more than the average huntsman and she had a similar occupation, her carrying multiple different weapons wouldn't be unusual. Given, that did give question as to how many she was trained in at such a young age.

"Alright, is there anything you would need?"

"I'd need ink, not like pens, like an actual inkwell, a bowl, as well as some paper and, if you have it, a calligraphy set."

It wasn't a hard request to fill, and though he was curious he wouldn't push on the issue. He nodded his confirmation before heading back to the school. The school year had just started, there was a lot of work to do.

* * *

Team RWBY headed with the crowd to their first class. They moved mostly with the crowd of students, but as the crowd started to thin out they moved as a team through the hallway. It was then that the team leader broke the silence.

"So, that was the girl from yesterday, right?" Ruby asked them collectively.

"Unless they've suddenly started offering child care services I don't think there would be any other little girls on campus." Yang replied.

"What did he mean when he said she was a class auditor?" Blake asked this time as they got the classroom.

"It means she's here to take classes but isn't graded for it. Uncle Qrow hates when he gets them because he always gets complaints." Ruby replied.

"I remember that, he'd call them stuck up civies who had no place judging how a huntsman runs his lessons." Yang said.

"Your uncle is a teacher? If he always gets complaints shouldn't that mean he should change his teaching style?" Weiss asked this time as she slid into a desk.

"Uncle Qrow is a great teacher!" Ruby defended quickly.

"When he's sober." Yang added as they sat down.

"But he does a good job, you don't get through a lesson with Qrow without picking up some serious skills."

"Still, it is strange, was she there to report on our progress during the initiation? Would Beacon send a civilian do something like that?" Weiss spoke this time.

"Considering what she did, do you really think she's just a civilian?" Blake added as she took her seat at the end of the row.

There was no response to that as they settled into class.

* * *

It took a few hours just to sort through what remained of the laundry room. Since I wasn't interrupted this time, I could in fact make a log of what was and was not broken. Most things that had been in newer seals, food, water, tents, clothes, my teapots, that had all been broken. The older, more set in seals on the wraps were faded but still functionally intact, not releasing its contents. That was a relief, since one of them had been the seal holding my guitar. I still released all those items and stored them in the back of the truck before setting the wraps aside. Most of the ink had run, dying the wraps in shades of grey, which wouldn't do. I set them all in a washing tub that I filled with an intact bottle of bleach and would let it set overnight.

Among my stuff were the other supplies that had been tipped over, as well as broken parts from both the washers and dryers that had been caught in the explosion. But otherwise it was mostly just my stuff I had to sort through. Thankfully none of the smoke bombs went off, that would have been disastrous for anybody nearby. My small collection of swords also stayed set, but they were blood bound seals, so it was much, much harder to open them normally.

Blood bound seals could only be opened by the blood of the person whom they were bound to. It was a safety created because of our rather recent loss of quite a few of our legendary weapons, so we wanted to make sure such things couldn't be easily stolen. It was easy to see why I'd want that on some of my more exotic swords. I still prefered my normal wakizashi, but sometimes you needed something a bit extra.

The two prototype arms had also fallen out of their seals, the mark six was still intact, though the seven was missing some pieces. I'd probably have to work on it, hopefully none of the seal work Minami did on it had broken. Still, that was hopeful, since I would have a harder time holding things down with the mark three. Sitting in the back of the truck, I picked up the prosthetic and looked it over. It was a bit nicked, but otherwise fine. It was the second of the metal designs, the first four, working as proof of concepts, were made mostly out of wood, but this one was made more of metal. It wasn't good quality metal, mostly scrap that had been reforged to shape the parts, but it was metal nonetheless. I turned it over and looked at it from the inside, I could see the carved scrawling of the seals, but I didn't know if they were broken or not. Well, I could either take it apart or test it. There were failsafes from testing to prevent any complications from seal failure, so testing it would just be faster.

I reached over to my wooden hand and clicked the mechanism that held it to my attachment at the base and twisted. It clicked for a few seconds before releasing from the latch. I looked at the attachment implement on my arm and chuckled, it would probably look a bit extreme, but having multiple purposes for it seemed like a good idea at the time. Especially if my prosthesis got damaged in battle.

I slid the new arm onto it before clicking the mechanism in place, it was a little off, but managed to push into place as I fed chakra into the seals on the inside of the mechanism. It was a complex piece for sure, the seals were supposed to react to the chakra like nerve impulses and the fingers in tandem. There were five on this model, though they only had two joints as opposed to a real hand's three. Each finger was a metal cylinder attached at each joint to a wooden ball to another cylinder, then to the palm. The palm was metal as well, it was shaped like a shallow bowl and hollow on both sides.

I flexed each individual finger, but found the pinky less responsive than the others. Curious, I clicked the palm open to look at the inside. Every single finger in joint was controlled by multiple strings threaded throughout the entire contraption. It was a bit like Chiyo's puppet arm, but made with kakri threads. The pinky was less responsive because some of the holdings that kept the threads from tangling were bent out of alignment. It wasn't the only one either. Alright, that would take some time to fix, but for now it was functional at least, and a little lighter than the wooden one.

Letting out a sigh, I picked up the writing tablet I was given as well as the calligraphy set with the ink and the bowl. With the prosthetic I grabbed one of the many senbon needles I'd collected and cut open my palm. It took a minute or two to fill the bowl adequately with my blood, but when there was enough I closed the cut with chakra and added the ink to make the base for the seal. Picking up the brush from what looked like a, if not new, unused calligraphy set, I carefully put the memorized characters onto the paper, paying close attention to the weight and size limiter as I filled it in. Once that was done, I hopped out of the truck and set the seal on the side of it.

Storage seals worked on the principle of one, as some called it, basically only one thing could be stored in a single seal at a time. That principle was, however, pretty flexible if that one thing had other things inside of it. To save time, I'd just loaded up the truck with everything I could salvage and pulled the truck into a large seal. It would take more time to make more seals later, but that was a task exactly for later. For now I'd go to lunch, or maybe dinner, how late was it? Either way, I was hungry. Then I'd see if I could find Professor Port.

* * *

 **Another long chapter, this one was also two, but like the previous one made more sense as one. I'm bad at this scheduling thing, but it is Monday so I guess this is fine.**

 **Reviews would be appreciated.**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The office of Peter Port was, like most of Beacon, a throwback to a more classical era. More wood than metal, walls made mostly of windows, just simple and homey in appearance. Many stuffed heads of various grimm sat on the walls, though all replicas of course. The creatures of darkness always dissipated in the light of their demise. It was a shame that no real trophies could be taken from them, but the man in the room likely would have run out of space for them long ago if that had been the case.

He often spent just a bit of time alone in his office, looking through his books and structuring his lessons. His daily classes were mostly with the Freshman years, as he taught the identification and tactics used to hunt grimm, of which he was a foremost expert in. He also did it so that students who had questions or inquiries could find him more easily. The school being such a large place, teachers having set times where they were in one place was a must for students.

It was only a few hours after his first such hours with Miss Weiss Schnee that he got another visitor who knocked on his door. He got up from his own notes and walked to the door, opening it to reveal someone who had been of some note in the last day and a half. Port knew her name, as did many of the students after her introduction, so he didn't hesitate to greet her.

"Miss Ume! It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, I heard from Professor Ozpin you had a request of me."

"That is correct."

She walked in but didn't take a seat, instead looked at Professor Port, not quite in the eye, but near the face.

"I have something I need to retrieve from the forest, and he told me you were the best person to ask about going into it."

Peter Port leaned against the wooden desk behind me as she spoke, the desk creaked just a bit under his weight. He'd have to fix that later.

"Ah, the Emerald Forest, one of my favorite hunting grounds for certain. I have spent many a night strolling its shadows, slaying all grim who come into my path. If you tell me what it is you seek I can surely retrieve it for you." There wasn't an ounce of doubt in him. He was completely certain he could do such a feat with little effort. He had been there many times, after all.

"I don't want you to just go and get it, I want to get it myself. But I do need a guide and that is why I am requesting this of you." She replied in a matter of fact voice.

It was a very level tone that didn't have the quiver of some shy request. Still, it didn't change several things he knew.

"Well, no better hunter or guide there could be, though I am certain that wouldn't be necessary." He said. "You need not worry yourself, I heard you were recently injured. Even the mightiest of hunters need their rest, after all."

"I must insist that you take me with you, it might be easily overlooked otherwise."

The tone shifted more to that of worry. Clearly she didn't understand whom she was dealing with.

"It must concern you greatly if you would want to go with great haste, but you would do well to rest. I am sure I can easily accomplish this task while you do so."

He said, after all a simple retrieval was nothing to him. It would be simpler than escorting her as well. She was a small girl, and though she held herself well, the forest would absolutely be teeming with grimm tonight.

Though she didn't seem to realize this, or if she did she ignored this as her eye slightly twitched.

"Fine," She said, not hiding the irritation in her tone as she turned around. "I'll just go myself. I'll see you in a few ho…"

Peter Port grabbed her by the shoulder just before she took a step. She shouldn't go alone.

"Now, Miss Ume, why don't you sit down and we can talk about this?"

"You don't think I can handle it." Her voice was matter of fact, but the irritation could be heard in it. "In fact, you were what, going to spend the next few minutes trying to convince me otherwise. I don't plan on fighting, I just want to retrieve something. I can surely do that, even if I was still injured."

That was true. Though it was his hunting ground, the Emerald Forest was a dangerous place and it was… wait, what?

"Still?"

"I healed myself half a day ago." She replied.

He looked at the girl in front of him, removing his hand from her shoulder as he thought out loud.

"You healed yourself? But I was informed you didn't have an awakened aura."

He had attributed her walking around as she did to her own determination to do so, cracked ribs were nothing to sneeze at, but with medication one could move around with them.

"Did that change?"

"No, it didn't change, I just used my aura without awakening it."

She replied, her face didn't change. It didn't seem like she was lying, but it wasn't something he had ever previously heard of.

Ozpin had been right when he informed the staff that she was a very strange case.

"Well, that does change things, if that is truly the case."

"Why would I lie?" She said.

He let out a light sigh before shaking his head.

"You seem quite the stubborn one, and prideful as well. I didn't doubt for a moment you would have gone into the forest alone if I didn't stop you, you hold yourself like someone who does not make such threats idly. That type of determination can be both a blessing and a bane to hunters and I have seen it many many times in these halls. It is not unheard of for such people to overestimate their abilities, stretch themselves too thin, or even hide an injury to do a mission."

The small girl rolled her eyes, but her tone was less irritated as she spoke this time.

"I am well aware of how hurt I am, in fact, it's the first thing I usually check upon waking. If it was really necessary, I would put this off."

"But not simply let me retrieve what you have lost." He said as he looked at the stubborn girl.

"Well no, but I don't know you." She replied. "How can I trust the job will get done?"

"Miss Ume I am a teacher, but more importantly I am a huntsman and have held more important tasks for decades on my shoulders. Simple retrieval should be nothing to me."

He had a long tenure as a hunter before he ultimately took his position here at Beacon. Even then, he never let his skills dull, going on a minimum of one hunt a month. Nevermind he was himself a pillar of integrity no one could surely doubt.

"It should be, except the title and term huntsman means nothing to me. I have no reference in my capacity to just trust you because you're a huntsman. They don't exist where I am from." She said.

This did give Peter pause as he went over the words. That was quite strange, they were told that she was from an isolated village, but to be so isolated that they didn't know what hunters were was almost unheard of. Still, if she had no faith in hunters he would have to remedy that..

"Well, if that is the case, I will simply have to show you by example." He turned and started walking to the door before pausing. "Though after we acquire some X-rays to confirm your claims."

It would be more of a trial to watch over, her but not something he was unused to. Still, he would rather be certain that she wasn't injured. After all, if her safety was on his shoulders he needed to make sure there weren't any complications he didn't know about.

"That's acceptable." The girl conceded as they headed to the door.

* * *

Professor Port fit his name to a tee, he was so, well, portly.

He, while not a tall man, was certainly a wide man, with broad shoulders and what looked like a gut under his bright red jacket. He had grey hair and a mustache you could steer a bicycle with. If someone told me he spent his winter breaks posing as a mall santa I wouldn't be surprised, he was only a fur collar and a full beard from filling out the full picture because he was just that jolly. Which fit well with him whistling as we trekked to the edge of the cliff holding his axe/blunderbuss over his shoulder.

While I give him kudos for managing the construction of such a weapon, I couldn't help but think it was a little impractical. Wouldn't it be better to have the blade edge near the barrel? Nevermind how would you hold that, you'd risk cutting yourself every time you shot it.

"So how do we get down, is there a staircase or something?"

I said, hand on my blade as I looked down into the darkness. I had picked up my sword, which they had stored in a locker somewhere while I was sleeping. Then I went back to my room to make sure Danny had food, water and a box to use for the restroom.

"There is no such thing, as it would be an easy access point for the grimm of the forest. No, we will be descending into the forest much like the students did before."

He pointed to a pad on the ground and walked onto it. I looked at it for a few moments skeptically. I put a foot on it and tapped on it.

"What is this, like some sort of telepo…"

Two things happened at once, one, Professor Port grabbed me under the shoulders, and the platform we were on shot up, springing us upwards like we were a jack in the box.

"What, what?"

There was some amusement in the man that seeped through his silence as we flew over the forest in a wide arc. The entire time I was struggling against his grip on me, but he was a full grown man and much more muscular than he appeared. I could feel it in his arm grip around my chest. That wouldn't normally be the problem, but his aura was unlocked, so he was probably also using it to strengthen himself, whether consciously or unconsciously. Either way, I wasn't going anywhere as we plummeted to the ground.

I built up chakra to make a burst of wind to push us forward when I saw his hand go forward with his blunderbuss and, BAM!

A burst of wind exploded from the weapon, pushing us backwards. Professor Port then used this to do a backflip and land in a small clearing with me in his hands. He was way more nimble than his frame suggested to pull that shit off.

It was only then that he let me go and I rubbed my arm where he iron barred me.

"You know, if you had told me what was happening, I could have done that my own damn self." I replied, a little irritated.

He just laughed.

"It is a large forest Miss Ume, and those pads are calibrated to put some distance between the students they launch to insure we can monitor their individual landing strategies."

"Landing strategies, is launching people through the air a normal thing around here?" I said, actually a little curious.

"Hunters and Huntresses are often sent into dangerous territory where bullheads cannot safely land, so it's paramount that before they enter this school they are well prepared to be able to fall and land safely into a hot zone." He replied.

"And you don't just give them parachutes because...?" I drawled out.

"Most deployments will be done as close to the ground as possible, there is often a minimum height required for parachutes to be effective and even then parachutes themselves can cause a hunter or huntress to be pushed off course several kilometers by an errant wind." He said, taking a teaching posture.

"That doesn't explain how they do…"

I was cut off by a growl as the feeling hit me about the same time the sound did. That crushing dark hatred radiating off a large creature that jumped into the small clearing. I put my hand on my sword, set into a stance, but it wasn't necessary as before the creature even got halfway to us…

BAM!

Another burst of wind exploded out like a ball, hitting the grimm, which was thrown back with enough force to send it through a tree.

"That seems like enough talking for now. There are prey to kill and things to search for, shall we, Miss Ume?"

He said it absently as he started reloading his blunderbuss with a different ammunition.

"We would, if you hadn't attracted every thing in the forest with tha…"

The next wave of hatred hit me, and it was a wave because there were several of these things. I couldn't tell how many, because separating them would suggest there was some sort of individuality to them. But no, it was all uniform, all black, hatred for all life, simple and pure. It made me flinch as I switched to a ready position with my hand on my wakizashi.

* * *

The grimm were out in force tonight, as it always was the first week of classes. It was not a well known fact that hunter schools were kept isolated from the kingdom because the number of teenagers there with awakened auras made the school veritable grimm magnets whenever morale in the school was low. While this high number of grimm made it useful for instruction, it was something that had to be kept in check to insure that the school's automated defenses weren't overrun.

It was less than it would have been during the week leading up to exams because the previous day a large number of resident grimm was taken care of by the students, but it was still a fair number for a good hunt. Peter Port certainly thought so as he chopped off the heads of three beowolves that had flung themselves at him. He kept his movements tight as he used another swing to slice up the front of an ursa before spinning his weapon in a practiced motion and placing the muzzle on the creature's chest. He didn't pause before pulling the trigger and the beast's chest cavity imploded inward then exploded out the other side of the creature.

When it needed to, his weapon had a respectable range of about forty or so meters, but it was always best used at close range where it would have the most impact. Get in close and take them out with one blow. It was a style of combat that had gone out of use with the younger generation, who had adopted more flashy and acrobatic styles in conjunction with their fancy transforming weapons. While it served its purpose well in exhibition, on the battlefield it couldn't compare to good old fashioned hunting.

If it wasn't broken, why fix it? It was something he was well acquainted to and he had more than once seen hunters fall to either grimm or other hunters because they used an overcomplicated style. Which was why he was pleasantly surprised to see someone who had a style that complimented much his own.

The small, stubborn girl that had arrived at their school who only went by Ume was much a mystery to most of the staff. In fact, it was more to say she was a mystery to everyone, which was quite shocking as he knew quite well the headmaster didn't stand for mysteries he couldn't solve.

He was informed the girl had some training, she certainly carried herself like a hunter. Her posture was strong, her steps always steady and deliberate. She also carried a weapon, a very simple and small sword, but one she seemed confident with when she walked. She certainly seemed confident with it now. He only spared a glance out of the corner of his eye as he saw her smaller form not far from his back as she killed the last several grimm in much the same way as he did.

A low strong stance, sturdy and hard to move, one hand resting on her sword in its sheath. A grimm comes at her, she takes a step back but does not break the stance, one step, two steps, the beowolf almost completely on top of her. Then, she draws her sword, one fluid motion which she uses to regain her lost ground, a silver arc that cuts through that grimm, but does not stop as she reverses her grip and slices through another, then another.

Simple, brutal, efficient, no wasted movement. He would have liked to simply watch if he himself didn't have to turn and punch the beowolf trying to attack his back. His right fist connects with the beast's jaw, pushing him down before he brings his axe hand up, cleaving the beast in two before he pulls the axe up into an overhand throw across the clearing. It flies through the air and splits the mask donning the face of the ursa that tried to move into the clearing.

"Look alive lass, we'll be moving to the next area soon."

She notes his warning and dispatches two more beasts before retreating to his back as he moves to retrieve his weapon. She moves carefully, her back to his as they move. A cautious stance as they move through the trees. It wasn't something he'd had expected, but she was surprisingly jumpy for someone who seemed so confident before. He supposed that was a good thing, less experienced hunters could fall into the trap of overconfidence. You needed to stay sharp when you were on the hunt or you may become the hunted one.

Her breathing started to even out as they moved through the trees, the reprieve somewhat disappointing, though he didn't think his charge for the night thought so as her breathing started to slow. A quick look saw that even though she still had her hand on her weapon and her eyes were darting through the trees, she had moved out of her ready stance.

"Do you think we'll find it soon?"

"If the information I got from Professor Ozpin is correct, it should not be too far now."

They had gotten a copy of some of the recordings to try and figure out where Ume had originally fallen and they had come to the conclusion it was not far from where the pair of Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren had found each other. There were no cameras on the particular part where she fell, they couldn't cover every angle of the forest after all, even with their large amount of security, but Peter was confident they would find it soon. To someone less experienced the location would seem random, but he knew from experience and from the tree shapes it was near the northwestern quadrant, only about a kilometer or so from the mountain.

His hunch proved to be right as they came upon a smaller mountain, though not of stone, but of metal.

"This is interesting. Do you think this was where you…"

He turned to look down at his charge, but she was no longer in the spot next to him. Turning back, he saw her kneeling on the pile digging into it like she was prospecting for a dust vein.

"I suppose that answers that. Have you found what you're looking for, lass?"

"Not yet, it's dark."

She paused for a second and sat on her knee. She then held up one of her free hands and did three strange gestures before muttering something under her breath. Almost immediately a small orb of light appeared over her hand. It lit the area in the shade of the trees in the night as it floated slightly above the girl and she started digging once more.

"That is quite the interesting trick you have there, Miss Ume. I was unaware you had a semblance."

Peter Port said as he walked forward to examine the light more closely.

The girl didn't look up as she searched, instead she spoke again.

"What? The light, no that's not a semblance. That's just a technique, an easy one too. Why would you think I had a semblance? My aura isn't unlocked."

"While it is easier to unlock or discover one's semblance with an unlocked aura, it is not always necessary. Such abilities can manifest themselves in situations where a person is under a great deal of mental, emotional or physical stress." He replied quickly.

It was another thing he noted about the girl, she had no qualms asking questions whenever something confused her.

"Oh," She said as she continued digging. "What's your semblance?"

"Now, why would I answer something like that?" Peter Port chuckled for a few seconds. "What if I had to fight you? Letting you know what special abilities I may have would put you at an advantage."

The girl actually paused and turned to look at him. Her tone was flat as she spoke again.

"I just spent the night watching you plow through something like sixty something hate monsters, some of which you tore apart with your bare hands and you haven't even broken a sweat. What in the world makes you think I'd actually want to fight you?"

Ah, she was counting, though she was off, it was actually seventy three grimm he had killed tonight. Not anywhere near his record, but he was splitting the numbers with her.

"As wise as that is, you must know you are something of an unknown factor. Nevermind it's rather rude to ask someone else what their semblance is if you aren't a teammate."

"I don't see why not, it's not like people wouldn't know how to fight if you neutralized their semblance, right?" She said as she searched.

"One would think, but some people's entire style relies on their inborn ability rather than full combat training." He said.

"Sounds pretty shortsighted, every power has a weakness." She said as she dug before moving something out of her way. "Nevermind that peo…"

She let out a gasp as she pulled something small out the pile and held it up.

"I found it! And it's not broken, thank god."

Peter Port walked up the file and looked down at what the girl had come into the forest to retrieve. To his surprise, it looked to be nothing more than a small piece of oddly shaped wood. It was polished, sure, and had a flower pattern etched into it, but otherwise he wasn't familiar with what it was.

"Something of personal value to you, Miss Ume?"

"Yes, yes," She held it to her chest. "Someone, someone very precious gave it to me, I would have hated for it to have been dest…" Her speech broke as she turned her head suddenly and jumped to her feet.

Peter Port followed her gaze and saw more prey stalking out of the woods. Well, it seemed even with their goal accomplished it would be long going home. Fantastic, maybe he would break a hundred tonight.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 9

I slept really well that night, partially because I was just exhausted. Not that I used up all my chakra, just plain physical exhaustion. I guess I really shouldn't have doubted Professor Port when he said it was dangerous, but the last time I'd been in the forest there were hardly any grimm. I don't know if it had to do with the fact that it was night time, or maybe because the other students they threw into the forest lead them around, but we were attacked from all sides almost all night. Not that it slowed down Professor Port any, that man was an expert melee fighter and he had the stamina to match. He was also MUCH faster than his frame suggested. Which I guess made sense, just because someone's fat doesn't mean they can't move. If you're strong enough it really doesn't matter how heavy you are, after all. Akimichi were fast too, even though they were one of the few ninjas who willingly and intentionally put on extra weight to act as fuel for their clan techniques. Well, they were fast to normal people, they were slow compared to other shinobi, but that wasn't a good comparison.

The other reason I slept well was because it had been fun.

As nervous as I had been, as awful as it felt to be there, surrounded by those creatures, it felt good to kill them. It felt good because their presence from this world was gone, and I could feel it fading away. It wasn't, it wasn't how I usually had to kill things, kill people.

The world I was from wasn't like the world from the show. Where the main character could just overpower the opponent and wouldn't have to kill them, it's easy to be merciful when you're stronger than someone. But if you're weaker, there's only one of two ways to win that fight, either flee or kill. It was how I'd survived, opponents who were objectively stronger fell to my hand for the simple reason that I never held back.

As a general rule, shinobi held back when a fight began even when fighting other shinobi. For strong shinobi it was a measuring process, figure out exactly the amount of force you needed to use and then use it. It was a practical way to do things because it allowed you to save energy you might have to expend fighting either another opponent or just getting away. Shinobi were trained to fight with an exit strategy at all times because your life and the information you could gather about an opponent were usually more objectively valuable than simply beating them. There were circumstances where this wasn't the case, if you were guarding someone, or buying time for someone to escape. But most shinobi didn't use everything they had right away because they could conserve their strength for later.

Except I couldn't.

I was for all intents and purposes a weak shinobi. Even with conditioning, even with years of physical training compared to a normal shinobi, I was weak because I had lower than average chakra reserves. I could access my chakra, I could use it, but I had less than a normal person, would always have less than anybody in my own age group and much less than anybody older. It wasn't something that could be fixed with anything but age. My reserves would grow with me, but it would be at least two or three more years before I'd reach the same level as the average genin fresh out of the academy.

So when I fought, when I couldn't run, I couldn't test another shinobi in fights. If I wanted to have anything to keep going I needed to end a fight as fast as possible. It helped that my stature and my chakra nature helped make me physically very fast, but it also meant that I used excessive force ninety percent of the time which meant, as a result, if I couldn't run away, if I couldn't make the choice to run away, I killed my opponent. In the moment I could do it, I could do it again if I had to, but it didn't remove the toll of the aftermath.

The duality of the ways I was raised often brought conflict into my mind, it unsettled me how I could just kill another living, feeling person like that. Even if they deserved it, even if they were going to kill me, it didn't change how I felt afterwards, how I had to reason and distract myself to keep from dwelling on it.

But that wasn't a problem with the grimm.

I didn't know what they were, I didn't know where they came from or what their purpose was, but I did know without a single doubt that they should be killed. I wasn't even sure you could call hunting grimm killing, because they didn't feel alive. They were more like containers, containers of hate so pure that no living creature could have possibly produced it. Living things can't just hate after all, they have to feel other things, good and bad. But they weren't alive, they didn't feel alive and they didn't even leave a corpse. Instead they just faded away, the hate just faded away and every slash through them, every form just disappearing, just faded into nothingness. Like a light shining into the darkness dispelling the hatred that lies within.

It was a relief every time they were gone, because the hate was otherwise suffocating. There had been so many after all, if Professor Port hadn't been there it might have just overwhelmed me. But I had been right to bring him, because as strange as it was to feel the emotions of others, it helped me ground my own emotions and steel myself against the hatred. It helped me feel human, because like a lighthouse in the fog they shined through with their own emotions, their own human emotions.

Maybe I was thinking too much on it. Regardless, it was a productive night. We had gone through the forest and I had found what I was looking for. In the morning, after a very nice long warm shower, I fixed my hair with the plectra sitting in its proper place held with a hair tie in my high bun. I had my clean bandages rinsed and dry and wrapped them around my arms, tied up my wrap dress into my kimono and looked in the mirror. The young, thin face that greeted me looked more akin to the reflection I'd gotten used to over the last thirteen years. But it also made me sigh. Now that I wasn't flailing, confused and trying to gather myself, it brought up the true question I needed to answer.

How was I going to get home?

Really, I should have asked that earlier, but I was busy acclimating to my environment. Now though, standing in the small bedroom I had to really think about what to do now. Honestly though, it was the same answer I had when I first arrived and started acclimating.

I needed to gather information.

I got a fair bit from the headmaster the early morning the previous day, but there were still holes I needed to fill. A particularly pressing one was, where in the world was home?

That was a good question. I wish the map I had of the elemental nations hadn't been destroyed in the laundry room incident, but I had a decent idea of its shape. I suppose some research had to be done.

* * *

Nothing.

That was what after several hours of looking through the library at Beacon I had come up with. Which was pretty shocking, considering the sheer size of it. Seriously, it was huge and filled with books of all different shapes and sizes of so many different subjects. Though apparently the subject of maps wasn't as important because there were only nine books, and I had looked through all of them. The information in all of them seemed to just repeat itself over and over again. It showed maps of each of the four major kingdoms, as well as a small map of a continent called Menagerie. But outside of the major kingdoms, there wasn't much to look at.

There were paths marked out, but no real indicator of the climate or topography for a lot of the smaller areas. In fact, there were just large swathes of continents that were just universally blank, including an entire freaking continent. What the hell? How the hell did they have maps of the world but not be able to record most of this stuff? Was it because of the grimm? If it was, if they were THAT widespread and hard to deal with, I could get why they had entire professions built around killing them, but it still wasn't useful because none of the places that WERE mapped were remotely indicative of being the Elemental Nations.

I had notes for all of this, and even piecing together less updated maps, it still formed a whole lot of nothing. No wonder the headmaster didn't think it was strange I was from some uncharted area, there was so much uncharted territory that you could probably hide a whole another world in it.

Setting the book down, I pinched my nose. Okay, I was getting frustrated, but that was fine. This didn't mean anything, just that I needed to take a step back and evaluate my options. Danny pawed up next to me, mewing, and I scratched his head. He had been sleeping in here with me, but he was probably hungry. Or bored, usually he had someone else to play with other than just me. Hell, even some of the rabbits would…

Wait, the rabbits. The rabbits, they travelled a lot, maybe they would know, or even if they didn't, they could send a message back to the others. Why hadn't I thought of it before, I signed the rabbit contract for that purpose. It wasn't like I could use rabbits in combat with the huge chakra drain it caused, but still it was something. It was a step forward.

"(Danny, are you ready for one of your friends to come?)" The cat mewed again, jumping on my hand.

* * *

The library at Beacon was surprisingly spacious, and very well stocked. Blake Belladonna had seen pictures of it in a brochure, but that hadn't done it justice as she walked through the rows of books, hands sliding on the spines with a small smile on her face. She'd made a good choice coming here, she had considered other hunter schools to apply to, but this was always one of her first choices and this place was definitely one of the deciding factors.

Growing up in Menagerie, things like scrolls, computers and terminals were less prevalent. In time they came to the newly settled country, but books had always been a constant companion to provide information, new opinions and new worlds to explore. That last part she especially liked because Menagerie was such a small place.

The desert continent faunus as a whole were 'graciously' given was even less hospitable than the deserts of Vacao, only the main settlement on the coast could really safely support life and it really was a very small place with far too many people. But books didn't make it feel small, books told of places outside of Vacao, of people and things that one could only imagine. It spurred her curiosity and also her need to see it for herself, along with trying to grant rights so that others like her could do the same.

Not that those aspirations really went as planned.

Even still though, they were still something she loved to explore. She already had a good stack in her hands as she moved through the walls. Some fiction, some nonfiction, all things she probably wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. But that didn't matter here, she was a student, after all. She could check out whatever she needed and learn so much. All she needed to do was take it off the shelf.

She hummed to herself as she reached up for another book and she heard a strange sound. It was sort of a, pop? Well, that was fine. Moving down the line, she started skimming the titles. Oh, they had the Broken Sword series, she'd been meaning to…

Another pop made her 'ribbon' twitch as she turned her head towards the sound. What was that?

Turning away from her books, she bit her lip as she moved down the line and looked around. She walked slowly, peering her head around the corner, looking for the sound. She expected the sound, but didn't expect the billowing smoke that seemed to come from behind one of the book cases.

Smoke! In a library! Was someone smoking in here? That was, that was unthinkable, what if something happened. But, then, should she confront them? That would draw attention to herself, and she shouldn't stand out.

That was a mantra she'd adopted frequently. No matter what, she shouldn't stand out. She would be a normal student at this academy, do normal missions and then become a normal huntress. No one needed to look twice at her and she could move onto a new life where she could help people. But still, smoke in a libra…

Another pop and another plume of smoke made her jump back a little bit and she narrowed her eye as she looked at the section. Was that, fireworks? Was someone setting fireworks in here? Was that what the pop was? Well, that was even worse. There was no way they should be in here if that was the case. Whoever it was, this needed to stop. Maybe if she wasn't too loud it would be just a forgettable incident. Or she could get a librarian, though of course she'd need to see who it was first in case they tried to leave. Inching forward, she moved around the bookshelf and pushed herself low to the ground. She set her stack of books onto the ground as she set her hand down to keep herself steady and she peered around the corner.

And saw, a cat.

The black and white tom cat blinked once, looking into her eyes, before he moved forward and started to rub his cheek into hers, purring. She was too startled to really react properly at first, instead she reached down a hand and put it on his head as she peered over him. Sitting at a small out of the way study table, was the girl from initiation, the girl named Ume. She was surrounded by books, though none was on the table, and she was staring down at the wood, scowling, before bringing her hands together. She used both hands to make several different gestures before splaying her hand onto the table. From the table came a pop, another bout of smoke and then…

Cursing, mostly from Ume, who sagged with her head falling onto the table. She didn't move for a few seconds before she sat up suddenly and looked in her direction, though not directly at her.

"Doshit… I mean, who's there?"

Blake instinctively backed up behind the shelf to conceal herself before feeling silly for doing so. Why was she hiding?

She heard a mew before she looked at the tom who was now weaving his way through her legs, purring. Quite a friendly cat.

Letting out a sigh, she stepped around the corner and looked at Ume, the girl from the forest. Taking a good look at her now, she seemed, well, exhausted.

"What were you doing?"

She kept her tone even, she didn't want the girl to think she was accusing her of something.

"Oh, it's you." The girl said tiredly, slumping down again, her head falling onto her arm.

"What do you mean, it's you? We've never really been introduced." Blake said, still even.

"You're one of those kids from the forest."

A slight spike of irritation went through her at the word kid. But she pushed it down. No point getting angry, that would just make her stand out.

"My name is Blake."

"Hi Blake, I'm Ume." She said, tiredness seeping into her voice as her eyes travelled down. "And that's Danny, and he likes you. That's nice. I was trying to summon one of his friends but they don't seem to want to come out."

She looked down quietly.

"I have no idea why, in fact, I have no idea about anything." Her voice dropped at the last part.

Blake just stared for a few seconds as she looked at the girl's head, dropped below her arm. She seemed to just sit there. She didn't seem to move much, just sat there slumped down, letting out a sigh.

"Um," She looked left and right then down at the cat, who had stopped purring and was now looking up at Blake expectantly. What the hell did the cat expect her to do? "Well um, I gue…"

"You know, I'd thought I'd get something." She said. "I can usually manage something, like even just a tiny bunny, but now, not one? Are they mad at me? What will they think now? They probably think I'm dead and I can't even do anything about it! God, what did I get myself into?"

"What?" Blake looked at the girl for a few seconds. "Who would think you're dead?"

"My family, I just up and disappeared on them. God, I was so stupid, I should have just stopped her or made her wait. But no, I had to go do my own thing and then she messed up and then we got separated and now I'm here. I don't even know where here is!"

She gestured at the maps next to her.

"It's so unclear, because there's nothing. Then I just spent the last forty minutes trying to summon a rabbit so I could tell them, tell them that I'm okay or something. But they wouldn't come, I put as much chakra as I could, over and over and still, nothing."

There was a deep pang of regret that hit Blake in the pit of her stomach as she looked at the girl. It was empathy certainly, did her, did her family know if she was alive? Well, probably, they weren't part of the White Fang anymore, but they had connections. They must have known, right? She hadn't called them at all, didn't tell them she left, were they worried? Did they even think about her or were they still mad? How could she face them?

But what about this girl? They had said she was an auditor, was that a lie? Was she lost?

So many questions, god, what had she stumbled into? She should walk away, she should avoid this whole thing. This girl, whoever she was, would just draw attention to her. She was fairly distinctive after all. She took a step back and started reaching down to pick up her books. Her hand met something fuzzy. Her head turned to find the tom sitting on her books. He looked up at her again, mewing. She leaned down and whispered to the tom.

"Shh, move. I don't have anything to do with this."

The tom didn't move even as she picked up the stack. Instead, as she held it up he started to paw at her face.

"I don't, I'm not sure what's even going on here."

He leaned forward once again then turned his head towards Ume, who was just slumped over the books.

"What do you even want me to do?"

He mewed at her before jumping down and walking over to the desk. He jumped up and pushed his head into the girl's arm, she didn't stir. Blake looked over at her and then the cat. Walking over quietly she listened to the girl's breathing. It was steady and even and she was…

"Is she unconscious?"

The cat just responded with a mew.

"So, you want me to help a girl who somehow managed to knock herself out, in a library."

Blake said, staring at the cat, who just blinked slowly in return. She then looked down at Ume again, the books that surrounded her and let out a sigh.

This was not how she wanted to spend her free time.

* * *

A very familiar smell pushed me into consciousness as I looked around my surroundings. The bright white of the infirmary greeted me as I opened my eyes and let out a breath. Wait, hadn't I been in the…

My stomach dropped out of my chest as the memory came back to me. I had, I had been in the library attempting to summon one of the rabbits, and failed spectacularly. It was a smaller rabbit too, so it shouldn't have even taken that much energy, but with each attempt I poured more and more into it and it still got nothing. That, that wasn't fun. I must have exhausted myself to the point of passing out. That wasn't a good thing to do, but I had been pretty desperate. Why hadn't it worked? Did I upset the rabbits or something? It shouldn't make a difference, but there was nothing and the…

I felt a fleeting curiosity to the side of the room. I turned ahead and it did in fact fleet away. Like a shade, it was masked in a cooling calm, but it was still there, along with a relief that was more prevalent. Said emotions came from the girl in the school uniform with black hair and yellow eyes looking at me over the top of a book.

"Ninjas of Love?"

The title made me smile just a little bit. So even with everything else so foreign, this world had some concept of ninjas.

"You're awake." The girl said neutrally as she closed the book.

"It appears so, yes." I said, looking at her before pausing to look down. Oh thank god, they didn't take my clothing again. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

The girl looked at me and blinked.

"You don't remember?"

"Remember?"

I said again as I thought about it. I had used a lot of chakra in a very short amount of time. What had I talked about, what had I… Oh, I had a little breakdown. Shit, I didn't mean to do that in front of one of the students. That must have been really confusing.

"I, um, I was a bit delirious earlier, sorry. I had recently suffered a concussion, it must be because of that."

Nevermind that I probably shouldn't have tried summoning something multiple times without rest inbetween. Time Space Jutsu were very complicated work, even with the conduct of the contracts, bringing living matter from one place to the other was a massive chakra sink, nevermind very mentally exhausting.

"It's fine, we can just forget the whole thing ever happened. Though…"

She looked down and I followed her eyes down to see Danny had perched himself on her lap and was now sleeping happily.

I let out a snort before clicking my tongue. Danny's head rose droozily, assessing his options as he looked at me then down at his feet before resting his head back down.

"(Little manwhore.)"

I said quietly before moving my feet off the edge of the bed and onto the ground. When my feet hit the ground, I felt my blood rush from my brain and suddenly felt woozy as I stepped forward and nearly toppled forward.

Two hands caught me as I looked up at the girl.

"Are you alright? Maybe you should rest?"

"No, enough rest, I need…" I paused, thinking back on the day. "Wait, have I eaten today?"

I heard an agitated mew from Danny, who must have jumped down when the girl stood up.

"Right, I haven't, no wonder I'm so dizzy. Is the kitchen still open? I hope so." I glanced around and the girl looked up at the clock.

"It should be for another hour for dinner. Do you, do you need help getting there?"

"Nah, I'm fine I…" I took a step forward and nearly fell over. "Okay, scratch that, I definitely need help getting there. Geez, I'm usually better than this."

I heard a mew of contradiction as Danny jumped up onto my shoulders.

"Oh hush you, I eat plenty fine at home."

He just mewed again before pawing my cheek. I rolled my eyes.

"I feed you fine too. Besides, you could have gone without me, I'm sure someone would have fed you."

To that, he rubbed his head into my face and I reached up and scratched his ears before looking up and remembering someone else was here, watching me talk to my cat.

"So um, food? I mean, you don't have to, you can, like, get a nurse or something."

"No, it's fine. I need to eat too."

She helped me walk to the door, only pausing to pick up her book. I looked at her, trying to search my memories again, before I found what I was looking for.

"Thank you, Blake."

She paused when I said that, feelings flittering through her aura, fleeting as a shade. Confusion, hesitation, fear, panic, most of which seemed to calm as Danny leaned into her, purring. That seemed to calm her down as we started through the door and she spoke again.

"It's fine."

* * *

Weiss Schnee sat at the dinner table, textbook in hand as she slowly ate her food. Sitting adjacent to her was her partner Ruby Rose, who was more adamantly consuming a large amount of cookies that she had taken from the lunch line while her blonde sister, Yang Xiao Long, ate a piece of cheesecake.

"You might want to slow down there Rubes, it's not like there isn't going to be more tomorrow."

"But they're soooooo good and they had so many!"

She said, hands clenched in front of her before she took another bite and drinking her milk.

Weiss rolled her eyes and continued eating. It was childish to consume so many sweets, as well as bad for one's complexion, but it was a concession she allowed if only because her partner and team leader had at least eaten a balanced dinner at her request, though at a pace that was unseemly.

She would have berated the girl, but it seemed like a lost cause. Ruby Rose did everything at her own pace and the prefered method was fast, it seemed. Regardless, she continued eating her meal, carefully moving the fork to her mouth, not a single bit of sauce spilled as she chewed slowly and delicately without moving her mouth too much. It was one of many forms of etiquette drilled into her since birth and something she wouldn't soon forget. Appearances were, after all, everything. Though the cafeteria was going to close in forty minutes, she had set a line to her team about bringing food back to their room. She wouldn't have crumbs all over her sheets that might attract ants. Drinks were allowed, but only if the drinker was careful. As crowded as the room was with the things of the four girls, she wouldn't have them staining the carpet. She already gave Ruby an earful for cutting the curtain.

Picking up her own drink, she took a small sip as Yang spoke up again.

"Geez, going at a glacial speed there with your food, Weisscream?"

Weiss frowned at the bad pun upon her element and her name, but she didn't immediately yell at her teammate about it. She had been called far worse in the past.

"Not all of us feel the need to inhale our dinners. Besides, eating too quickly is bad for your digestion."

"Is it now, know from experience there?"

She said with a smile. The girl was just doing a playful ribbing now, she could very well tell the difference between that and actual mean spirited teasing.

"That's just basic medical knowledge. Besides, I'm multitasking." She said with finality.

"So? It's the first week, it's not like they're going to be springing tests on us or anything." Yang stated as she took a bite out of her cheesecake.

"Review and repetition are key to submitting things to one's long term memory."

Besides, if questions were asked in class, of course she would need to be able to participate to her fullest extent. She was a Schnee after all.

"Honestly, I prefer flash cards." Yang said. "Or those educational trivia games they do, you remember those, don't you Rubes?"

"I do, dad and Uncle Qrow could get them at a discount because they were teachers. It was pretty fun, not as fun as field training though." Ruby replied, taking a bite out of her cookie.

"Well, whatever you need to do to keep your grades up is fine, just as long as we stay in the top ten percent."

Even if she wasn't the leader, she couldn't have it on the record that her team was slacking. Speaking of which, she saw one of her teammates entering the cafeteria, and she was carrying someone. She wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Hey Blake! Did you pick up a stray?"

"I'd like to say, for the record, I didn't agree to this at all." The small girl responded in a high voice.

"Honestly, I doubt the records really care. You fainted in the hallway." Blake said in a deadpan as she deposited the girl onto the bench.

"I only did that once." The girl whined.

"Once was enough. What do you want? I want to get this over with." Blake said.

"A burger, two plates of tenders, two sides of vegetables, a side of rice, some soy sauce packets, strawberries and a bottle of iced tea." The girl belted out immediately, counting on her fingers. "Oh, and some rice, chopped fish and a bottle of water for Danny."

At this a cat appeared from the girl's lap.

"How am I going to carry all of that?" Blake responded.

"I can carry all that, but apparently I'm not fit to walk." The girl replied before moving to push to get herself up.

"Don't." Blake said. "Just, don't. I'll be right back."

Weiss looked at the scene as her quietest teammate made the way to the lunch line at the request of, Ume, that was the name of the girl who was currently laying a hand on her arm. In fact, it was so distracting the book in front of her started sliding out of her grip. It slid far enough that she clasped it closed almost out of reflex to keep it in her grip, causing a sound that drew attention from the rest of the table.

Ume turned her head to look at her and after a moment a little bit of recognition dawned on her.

"Oh, hey, you're that white girl from the forest. What was your name again?"

"Weiss Schnee." It was an automatic response, though one she didn't expect. Did this girl not recognize her? Given she looked exhausted so she likely wasn't thinking straight. "And you are Miss Ume, the class auditor."

"That's me, though I haven't been doing a good job, I haven't even been to a class since I got here. Given, probably not missing much, first classes are always syllabus and stuff. I'm sure I can catch up tomorrow." She paused. "If I can get up."

"Wow, you look beat." Yang piped in.

Ume winced.

"I sort of overextended myself today, which wasn't a good thing, since I went into the forest last night and after waking up late forgot to eat." She waved a hand off. "But I'm fine, just need food."

Weiss looked at the girl's explanation with a critical eye. She went into the forest? At night?

"If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing in the forest?"

"Were you hunting grimm?" Ruby asked this time, curiosity coming over her.

"Yeah, but not on purpose. I was looking for something I dropped when I arrived there two days ago." She pulled herself onto her elbows. "God, there were so many of them."

Weiss didn't think that story sounded likely. She may have killed that deathstalker before, but that was in extenuating circumstances, especially since she had frozen its stinger first. She couldn't have been older than ten, eleven at the most with how small she was. Not that those facts seemed to dissuade her partner.

"Oh, oh, did you use that sword you had with you or another weapon?"

"If by another weapon you mean Professor Port, then yeah, I did." Ume yawned. "And yeah, I had my sword, it's actually called a wakizashi."

"Professor Port? Really?" Yang said incredulously. "No offense, but the only thing that man seems to hunt is donuts."

The girl actually eyed Yang for a moment before saying.

"You aren't the sharpest knife in the drawer, are you?"

"Who needs a knife when you got a fist?" Yang shot back. "Besides, wouldn't it be dangerous for a little girl like you to go into the forest with Professor Port?"

"Much less than a little girl like you going into the forest with your inflated ego and excessive bravado."

There was a slam as Yang put both fists on the table.

"You want to go, little girl?"

"No, as it wouldn't prove anything. Even if you beat me, it doesn't change what happened, how you acted and how you should improve. I sincerely hope that something happens to you to calm your temper and fast, because if you carry on like you did then, you or someone you care about will di…"

A clink of two trays interrupted the two girls. Blake had set the trays in front of Ume, who looked down at the food for a moment and sat down from where she was leaning forward. She looked up at the black haired girl and smiled.

"Thank you."

Then she clasped her hands together, muttered some foreign words under her breath and started eating like the conversation never happened, her cat following suit with its face diving into some fish.

The awkwardness of the scene as Yang continued to fume while the girl seemed to completely dismiss the conversation with the arrival of her food made Weiss and Ruby squirm for a few seconds. While the girl had a good few points, it seemed less an attempt to correct Yang and more one to needlessly egg her on. Which wouldn't have been a problem had Yang not fallen for it.

She was right, something needed to be done about her teammate's temper, though not now.

It was Ruby who broke the silence after a minute or two of the foreign girl sitting at their table and eating. Well, the foreign girl, and Blake, who had also gotten herself a tuna salad sandwich and some bottled tea.

"So um, is Professor Port really strong, then?"

The girl didn't reply immediately, as she was chewing through her second plate of chicken tenders, which she consumed at a pace that mimicked that of a starving dog.

"That depends, he killed over eighty grimm last night and it didn't even ruffle his hair while doing it. Is that strong by hunter standards?"

"Umm, I guess so, yeah." Ruby replied nervously as she nibbled on one of her cookies.

Weiss didn't blame her, the portly professor didn't look like much and sounded much more like a blowhard than an actual hunter.

"Though I guess strength doesn't really matter in this case." Ume said again before taking a drink of her tea. "Experience does, I imagine Professor Port has that in spades. He is a hunter who lived long enough to get to old age, after all."

Weiss had plenty of experience reading people, plenty of training and classes, but that didn't mean much as it was clear that what she said struck a nerve with both sisters on her team. Yang didn't even look angry anymore as she sat back down. Ruby only chewed her cookies nervously as the rest of the table went about finishing their meal.

The silence didn't really end when the meal did, everyone shuffling away to take their trays away. Though it seemed that in the time between the four of them leaving the table and then returning, Ume had put her head onto the table and wasn't moving.

"Is she?" Weiss looked at the girl.

Blake looked down at the girl for a moment and moved her head, seeing steady even breaths.

"She's sleeping."

"She did look really tired. Oh, hey Blake why did you bring her to the cafeteria? Did you find her passed out in the hallway?"

"No, I found her passed out in the library. Well, more like she was pouring over some books and somehow managed to make herself pass out." Blake said. "It was pretty strange, now that I think about it. But she woke up a little bit later and said she needed some help getting to the cafeteria."

"Oh, that was really nice of you." Ruby replied.

Blake just turned away from her, holding her arm.

"Yeah well, she looked like she really needed the help."

She looked down at the small red haired girl and tried to snap her fingers a few times to get her to wake up again.

"Looks like she's out cold. So, we going to leave her?"

"Yang, that's not nice. She looks like she's had a really hard day." Ruby replied to her sister.

"She seemed to be spry enough to lecture us. Besides, if she stays overnight she won't miss breakfast." The blonde girl looked at Ruby for a moment before holding up her hands. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But where would we take her? It's not like we got any room on any of our beds."

"We can check the school directory, it should have the room numbers in it." Weiss suggested as she headed towards the door, though she paused as she looked back at the table. "So who's gonna carry her?"

"I've had just about my fill of that for today." Blake said flatly, walking forward.

"Well, I can't." Weiss said, holding her book. She might have done so herself otherwise, but she didn't want to juggle carrying the small girl.

Yang eyed the girl at the table, looking like she was considering the options. Weiss let out a breath, she might have burned out her anger, but she probably didn't have a great impression of the girl. At the end it was their leader who reached down and grabbed the sleeping girl in her arms.

Ruby didn't seem used to the action but it wasn't difficult, Ume was quite small. Though there was a squeak as Ume wrapped her arms around her carrier's neck after a moment.

"Is she really sleeping?" Yang asked, looking at the girl.

"Unless the fuss she made when I tried to carry her here was an act, it's probably just a reflex." Blake replied.

Ruby shifted slightly under the girl's arms, even as she felt the cat jump off the table onto her shoulders.

"She's heavier than she looks."

That probably wouldn't be very hard, Weiss thought absently. Ume didn't look like she would weigh very much. Still, it looked like Ruby had it in hand so she took out her scroll and pulled up the directory as they headed out of the cafeteria.

* * *

The knock on Bartholomew Oobleck's door made him look up from the research reports he had gotten the day before. They were some incredibly interesting articles about recent findings from a dig site in northern Vacao, some artifacts showing some of the earlier civilizations of mankind. They had yet to confirm whether or not there were some buried ruins, but there were several fossilized remains of fish which suggested a water source that had long ago dried up. Water suggested civilization wherever it was, especially in a desert.

Of course it would be interesting to follow up on, maybe do an expedition during the next break. There was a knock he supposed was his food. He always had it sent from the kitchen and…

He paused as he saw that his food had already been delivered on a paper covered side table, some nice soup and bread that had long cooled. When had they come in with that?

Taking a moment, he looked up at the wall clock to confirm that he had been buried in his research for several hours. Oh, where did the time go? Standing up from his desk he found his body, and his bladder seemed to groan a bit at the sudden movement. Yeah, perhaps a break was necessary, though after he dealt with the knocking at the door.

Walking from around his desk, he opened the door to see five distinctive young women in front of him.

"Ah, Team RWBY and" He adjusted his glasses. "Miss Ume it seems, what brings you to my office at this hour?"

Miss Schnee was the first to answer, holding the designated history text for his class. It was good to see she was taking it seriously.

"Professor, do you happen to know where Miss Ume sleeps? We checked the school directory and couldn't find it."

As it likely wouldn't, as Miss Ume wasn't a registered student, or registered anything. They had been told her stay here was generosity on the headmaster's part because of the lack of places for the small girl to go. While it was possible to hand her off to social services, he knew from the stories of prospective students that the system wasn't the best. Overcrowding was often a problem for orphanages with the frequent attacks of settlements outside the walls of the kingdoms, there had been more than one instances where children ended up in the streets because social services couldn't provide for them adequately enough.

"I believe Miss Ume is using one of the unoccupied first year dorms."

He looked at them, then to Miss Rose, who had the smaller girl in her arms. Two arms were wrapped around her neck, but the girl seemed undisturbed and fast asleep.

"I can get the number from Miss Goodwitch and deliver her myself if you would like to be off to your own dorms."

"You would?" Miss Rose replied, shifting a little from her position. "I mean, yes, I think."

Bartholomew walked forward to the girl, leaning down to try and pull one the arms of the smaller girl only to find a good bit of resistance.

"She seems to have quite a tight grip on you."

"Yeah," Ruby said "Um, it kind of hurts. But I didn't really want to just drop her."

He nodded, reaching under Miss Ume's arms and giving a gentle tug. This did not seem tp make the girl budge, so he tried to pull a bit harder, but this got no progress either. He tried again, a bit harder, but not so hard as to try and injure either girl. This only served to unbalance Miss Rose, who had to step a few feet to not fall over.

"That is interesting."

"Need a little help there, professor?" Miss Xiao Long said this time, stepping forward.

"Miss Ume seems quite intent to not break her grip even in her sleep." Bartholomew said. "Which is interesting in and of itself."

"Don't worry, I'll get my sister out of this death grip."

She seemed to stretch her arm out in a mock stretch like she was going into a fight.

Bartholomew held out his hand to give her pause.

"I have to ask that you do not. I understand you are a very strong young woman, but utmost care will need to be taken in this case."

"Don't worry, I'll be plenty gentle. Besides, she talks a good game, I'm sure she could handle it."

Bartholomew turned to her.

"I believe you are making an assumption here about Miss Ume, Miss Xiao Long, so let me clear this up. You see, Miss Ume should be handled with the utmost care because, unlike your classmates, she does not, in fact, have an unlocked aura."

Silence met Bartholomew as the four young women stared at him, then at Miss Ume. Even Miss Belladonna, who had seemed to be there more out of obligation than actual interest, turned to face the small girl that was hanging onto Miss Rose. Though it was Miss Xiao Long who spoke first.

"You're kidding, right?"

"I am not. It was determined immediately after she was brought into the infirmary after the initiation."

"But, but that can't be right. She killed a deathstalker like it was nothing!" Miss Xiao Long said again. "Nevermind she ran almost as fast as Weiss!"

"She did faint afterwards." Miss Schnee spoke this time, though her voice was lower and just a bit skeptical.

"Maybe she has a semblance that lets her do that, it is possible to gain a semblance without awakening an aura."

"Yeah, but that rarely ever happens! What are the odds, usually something horrible has to happen like, like..."

"Like losing an arm." Miss Rose interrupted the argument and the eyes turned to her.

"Miss Rose?" Bartholomew asked.

"It's, it's her left arm. It feels weird, it's, it's too straight, and too hard." She said.

Walking over to her side, Bartholomew looked at the left arm of the girl. It was completely wrapped in bandages, but he saw a hand palm of metal and wood at the end, gripped and hooked around the Miss Rose's neck with the other one. That was a fascinating contraption, he hadn't been informed the woman was using a prosthesis. Still, if that was the case there was a solution to this. Reaching over to the bandages, he started to carefully unwind them from the top. There seemed to only be one layer on it. After a few moments, he revealed a place where the metal cylinder met flesh over the elbow.

"I can see what you mean, as crude as this looks, it seems she did indeed lose part of her arm, though it does provide a solution to our problem."

Examining the attachment for a minute or two, Bartholomew saw a small latch that seemed to connect the device. Reaching over, he clicked it forward then back, and it loosened but didn't fall off. Curiously, he grabbed it and tried to pull but it didn't come off, so instead he tried to turn the contraption. It didn't go left but did go right, and spun easily. Still it did not come off, though the fingers seemed to loosen on Miss Rose neck as she seemed to relax a little bit. Still, how did this come off?

Turning the contraption, he then attempted to pull it off. It did not come off in any other way than straight and then…

The arm pulled free and as if in reflex the naked blade that was instead jutting out of Miss Ume's stub jammed forward towards Miss Rose's neck.

Bartholomew caught the lower arm of the girl, holding it still as the blade hovered a scanth inch from Miss Rose, who had grown significantly paler.

"Now that is an interesting way to affix a prosthesis to an arm."

"Interesting! She nearly stabbed Ruby! Who has a blade attached to her arm?!" Miss Xiao Long spoke up as the shock wore off.

"A very good question, Miss Xiao Long, and one I am sure Miss Ume would answer if she were awake. As for what just happened, I imagine she was simply trying to regain her grip but didn't realize her false hand was gone."

He said it as he pulled Miss Ume back and, with the grip lessened by the lack of one of the hands, managed to pull her off of Miss Rose. Though he did so while keeping a careful grip on her left forearm.

"I, she," Miss Xiao Long seemed to fume for a few moments before Miss Rose put an arm on her hand.

"It's okay," Her voice was weak. "She was asleep, she didn't mean it and my aura would have stopped it."

Miss Rose then turned to Bartholomew.

"Thank you, Professor Oobleck."

"You're welcome, Miss Rose. Now, if you would place her prosthesis back on I will take Miss Ume back to her room now."

Miss Rose complied, at first fumbling a bit with the wood and metal arm before clicking it back onto the small girl, who was now clinging to Bartholomew's neck.

"I believe that settles that, is there anything else you needed for tonight, Team RWBY?"

"No, Professor Oobleck." Miss Rose spoke for them.

"Alright then, you girls have a good night. I want to see you rested and ready for class tomorrow."

"Good night." The four of them said quietly before heading off to their own dorm.

* * *

 **I'm just going to assume this is going to get more reviews, than the new SP chapter, if only because this is much longer. Given, this was also, originally two chapters. But you know, made more sense like this. Ume's kind of mean when she's tired :P. Plus, you know, Port helped her and one of his students was dissing him.** **You can speculate on why Ume can't summon anything, there is a reason of course, though not one that will come up again for quite some time. Ume will only speculate briefly than move on.**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I sneezed a little bit as I was awoken by a fuzzy weight blocking my nose and mouth. Shifting my head to the side, I heard a meow and felt pawing on my face.

"(Okay, okay, I'll get up.)"

I turned on my side and started to wipe away crust from my eyes as I tried to push up, only to awkwardly shift on the mattress, huh?

Scooting back a little bit so I had my back against the headboard I held my false arm up and looked at it. I tried to move the fingers experimentally but they didn't budge. Huh? Reaching over, I gave it a short twist and the mechanism was loose. That explained it, the circuit wasn't completed if it wasn't locked into place. I turned it, clicked the lever on the bottom and tried again.

The fingers moved, stiffly as it was only two joints, not automatically or as freely as a real hand, but they moved. It was a step up from the earlier prototypes. It always was, but nowhere near what it needed to be. It wasn't dexterous enough to do hand signs, it was too frail to put into a fist or attempt to hit someone with it, and couldn't move fast enough for complex maneuvers. But it could hold things, it could hold a sword for very simple swings and stances, it could hold more than a knife and it could support things heavier than a kunai, which meant it was still better than my wraps. Nevermind that I didn't have to split my concentration to maintain its shape. That had always been the biggest trouble with my wrap arm. As good training as it had been in shaping my chakra, it wasn't something I could maintain in battle, Zabuza brutally demonstrated what happened to me when I tried.

I opened the palm to check the strings, it looked like everything was set. I closed it for a moment and headed over to the bathroom. I looked, well, I looked a wreck, which was par for the course when suffering from chakra exhaustion. I had bags under my eyes and my hair and face was a mess, though partially just from food. I had eaten too much too fast, and even then I was still hungry. Well, it could be worse. My low chakra pool came with a lot of downsides but one upside was that I bounced back from chakra exhaustion in about half the time a normal shinobi did. A smaller reserve to fill refilled more quickly and easily.

Taking off my arm again, I wrapped the blade on my arm with a cover and took a shower. It was made in Kumo, so I doubted it'd rust, but I only had the one.

After getting out, I wrapped up and decided to tie up my dress differently. I decided to flip the pattern and wear it as a one sleeve tunic over the wraps that covered my upper body. The purple ripple side of it was more clear as I wrapped the pink around my waist. I also got my red sash out and tied it around my neck as a scarf. Fixing my hair I looked a bit better, though my stomach was still protesting the lack of input.

So I decided to head down.

* * *

Team RWBY managed to make it down to breakfast with little trouble. Though many of them would have wanted to sleep in, the prospect of leaving the hot water to be taken by their teammates and the nagging of Weiss made them get used to the trend of waking early easier. Never mind the fact that if they didn't get up early they'd have to go to class on an empty stomach, which would make the prospect of staying awake in Grimm Theory even more unlikely.

Ruby Rose thought about the class and the teacher briefly as they headed into the cafeteria. She would have to say she didn't think Peter Port was a really active hunter. One; he was old! Even older than her father and her uncle, who were both also teachers. Also, he didn't look like he was in shape at all. But then, maybe that was because he was old. She didn't know, most old hunters she knew were thin as could be. She remembered some of the older teachers from signal being that way, though still muscular. She didn't know how old they were, but hunters tended to age well because of their lifestyles.

If they got to age.

That pushed her back to Ume and what she said. It, it struck a nerve in a lot of ways, which was why Ruby was more than happy to let the conversation drop. Yang probably would have continued if she didn't, her big sister getting fired up pretty quickly at the conversation, but that statement had cooled her down quickly. A lot of hunters died young. The moment she started on this path her father and uncle were quick to drill that fact into her. It had happened to their friends, to their colleagues, and to her mother. It was why they were both teachers now instead of active hunters. She knew it, and Yang knew it too. But it didn't stop how harshly the smaller girl had spoken about it.

Ruby didn't know what to really make of Ume, or even if she should make something of her at all. In a lot of ways, the smaller girl reminded her of Uncle Qrow. She certainly talked like he did when he was in a bad mood, which was about seventy percent of the time, usually when he was drinking. Then there was her sword, well, swords, she had two, one of them was on her arm. Last night that had startled her, though now that she thought of it, it was kind of cool.

It was, well, it was pretty hard core. Not many hunters used classic weapons like Jaune's, though she didn't know if it was as good quality as Jaune's sword, which was a work of art in its own right. Still, she'd never seen someone attach a weapon to themselves like that, well, she'd never seen it outside of movies or video games. Lots of hunters ended their careers when they lost their limbs, but then she didn't know if Ume was actually a hunter. Technically, she wasn't even a student. She at the least knew how to fight.

Ruby went through the line with her team, picking out some waffles and juice. She could see Weiss gesturing to the fruit before making her own plate go down the line. Ruby smiled at the paler girl as she picked up a fruit bowl. As grumpy as Weiss could be, she cared in her own way, no one nags you if they don't care about you. She wasn't her best friend, yet, but she was her partner and she had four years to get to know her.

Speaking of friends, she picked up her pace to find Jaune in the cafeteria. It was never very hard, he was really tall and his hair was super bright. Team JNPR always got to the cafeteria before them, probably because of how long Yang and Blake took in the bathroom. Ruby moved ahead with her tray, raising a hand in greeting.

"Morning, Jaune!" She said brightly.

The blond boy raised his head and waved a greeting.

"Morning, Ruby."

He looked up from his cereal with a cup of juice in his hand. His partner Pyrrha was on his right, across from him were Ren and Nora and to Nora's right at the end of the table was... Ume?

The third redhead at the end of the table with a black and white cat was currently eating through a stack of waffles covered in whipped cream and strawberries. She was currently wearing a bit on her chin as she looked up at Ruby and her team. The girl blinked just once before her hand went onto the table and she wiped her face on her sleeve.

It gave her pause, but only a moment, as she took the seat on Jaune's left. Her sister took the seat next to her, followed by Blake. Only Weiss went on the other side, sitting next to Ren and putting herself across from Yang.

"How has the first week of classes been treating you?" Jaune started the conversation.

"It's been fine, though I'm disappointed we haven't gotten to fight yet in Miss Goodwitch's class."

Jaune rubbed his head at that.

"You really think we'll start fighting each other soon."

"Of course, sparring is always important for hunters, and all the introduction and safety talks is boring." Ruby said. "Plus, I want to see what other weapons the students use. I bet they're fantastic."

There were students with custom weapons at Signal of course, but a lot of them didn't have a fully transforming weapon until their final year. Ruby and Yang were only ahead of the curb because they had their father and uncle to help them design and put together their weapons. Here though she was sure there would be tons of interesting designs for her to see in action.

"Are you sure it's just the weapons you want to see there Rubes? There are some pretty good looking guys in our year, I'm sure seeing them fight might be exciting. Especially if some of them accidently tear some clothing." Yang elbowed Ruby, who felt her face warming slightly.

"That rarely ever happens, Yang." She said as she reached down and started eating her food. "It's not likely Miss Goodwitch would allow someone's aura to get down enough to cause something like that."

"Why is that? Does aura also protect clothing too?"

The question caught about half the table off guard. It really shouldn't have because they had known she was there, but she hadn't spoken at all or greeted them. But the small high voice looked up as the rest of the table looked at her. She didn't seem abashed or embarrassed by the sudden attention, as she looked down the line at Weiss, who only paused before speaking again.

"Of course aura protects clothing. It acts as a shield that surrounds people. If you get a scratch or have cloth tear that's usually a sure sign your aura's depleted."

"Does it work for normal clothing or does it need to be special?"

"Why would you need special clothing?"

"It's just a bit um, different where I'm from."

There was a pause at the table as the conversation halted and the table collectively looked at the girl. The very young, very strange girl at the other end of the table. She still didn't seem ashamed of her ignorance as she reached down and took a sip of a bottled iced tea. Though that didn't stop the question from bubbling up when Yang spoke up.

"Where are you from anyway?"

There was a pause before the girl actually looked down at this, her expression turning a bit more dejected. Ruby turned her head to see the rest of the table turn towards Yang.

"What? We were all thinking it. It's not that weird a question."

Ruby couldn't help but agree, but it didn't change the reaction as the younger girl seemed to look at the table only to glance to the side and then yelp, as it seemed like in the distraction the cat had buried its head into the girl's plate.

"Danny, watashi no waffuru kara nukedasu!"

The girl grabbed the cat by the back of his neck and pulled him off the plate. The cat looked down the table, face covered in whipped cream, tongue flicking out and trying to get the cream at its nose.

The entire scene broke the tension as Nora started laughing.

"He's like a kitty creampuff!"

The rest of the table broke down a little more in laughing.

"That's purr-riceless." Yang said, pulling her scroll out to snap a picture of the cat. Ruby groaned at the pun.

"Yang!"

"What's wrong Rubes, would you pawfer I cut down on the purr'uns?"

"This is why were weren't allowed to get a cat, you know that, right?" Ruby said, putting a hand on her face. "This right here."

"I'm assuming there's a story there." Blake said, looking at Ruby and her sister. Her eyes were looking to Yang warily.

"She kept at it until we left the shelter. Didn't stop the entire way home."

"Oh come on, it wasn't that claw-ful." Yang replied.

"Sounds like it was fur-ever ago." Nora joined in.

"Oh great, there's two of them now." Weiss said with a hand on her face.

"For goodness sake, it's just a cat, he's been there the entire time."

"But this is the first time he's done something a-purr-able. God, this is definitely going viral."

"Viral? On the internet?"

The question pulled everyone's attention to the end of the table again.

"The what?" Pyrrha spoke this time.

"Um, how are you phones connected? It's connected to a network."

"It's connected to the codex." Jaune looked at Ume. "How do you not know about the codex?"

"It doesn't exist where I'm from. The only thing we have are shortwave radios."

"Well, it is a radio network, one broadcasted from the towers through our scrolls." Pyrrha replied this time. "I, I didn't know there were settlements without them. How do you call hunters when grimm attacks?"

"We don't." The girl replied, which was met with silence.

True silence this time, as the entire table was stunned. They couldn't call hunters?

"How did you survive?" Ruby found the words spilling out of her mouth. "If there are no hunters, how did you survive?"

"We don't need hunters because we take care of ourselves."

There wasn't any pride or boasting at that. There wasn't even much emotion at all. She just said it like she was talking about the weather, like she was stating a fact. But it floored the rest of them.

Was that, was that why she could kill that deathstalker? Was that why she was missing an arm? Was that why she had a blade attached to it? What type of life was that, a life where there were no hunters? But she said they didn't need hunters, but then…

"Who fights then? The grimm, who fights the grimm?"

Ume paused at this, looking quietly as she scratched her forehead as she seemed to think for a moment.

"Monsters, you mean? Well, there's several types of monsters, mostly they are handled by our warriors, to varying degrees. Though they aren't really hunters it seems. No, they are more like soldiers. Unless hunters are actually soldiers and I am simply mixing things up."

"No, you're right, hunters aren't soldiers." Weiss paused. "Usually, someone who is hunter trained can become a soldier, but registered hunters almost always focus on fighting grimm."

"So yes, our soldiers handle monsters. It's why I'm actually really curious about the hunters. It's actually really strange." Ume said. "Though that reminds me."

Standing up, the girl handed off her cat to Nora, who immediately held and nuzzled the black and white feline against her face as Ume walked to the end of the table and, with a fist in her palm, bowed to everyone.

"I apologize for my behavior and the things I have said, both yesterday and in the forest. I was tired, confused and holding all of you to an unreasonable standard. I didn't know at the time you were all simply students when I first met you, so I was harsher to you than I should have been."

There was a moment before Nora replied.

"It's okay Ume, everything was pretty silly in the forest."

"You rode through the forest on an Ursa, I think you don't get to define what is silly." Blake deadpanned.

"There were several things that could have been improved on, but we were fortunate enough to make it through." Pyrrha said.

"Yes, but that is not all I'm talking about. I'm sorry for snapping at you guys yesterday." Ume said, directing her hand at team RWBY. "I was hungry, and tired and actually really disappointed at myself. Nevermind you insulted someone who helped me."

"Eh, that was my bad." Yang said. "I really should know better about how badass teachers can be."

Ruby smiled a bit at her sister. Yang never really held grudges over small things, it was nice that this wasn't going to be awkward, especially if Ume was friendly with Jaune's team.

"Why were you frustrated with yourself?"

"Oh, I failed several attempts at summoning. It really shouldn't have happened, and I still don't know why it didn't work." Ume said, shrugging her shoulder. "But that wasn't a reason to snap at you."

"What do you mean summoning?" Weiss asked.

"Oh, I can summon rabbits. Though only small ones." The girl replied. "I was trying to summon one to send a message back home, but it didn't work."

Summon rabbits? That sounded, well, that sounded really cute actually.

"Can you show us? That sounds adorable!"

"It is adorable, but I shouldn't try it here. I could try outside before class."

"Sounds paw-some!"

"Yang!" The entire table replied in at the blonde's pun.

* * *

After a failed demonstration of my summoning technique for both Team RWBY and Team JNPR (those team names are weird), and dropping Danny off at the room, I attended the first days of classes, of which, as it turned out, there were three. First was Professor Port who, honestly, I was a little surprised didn't notice that no one was listening to him. Well, that, or he didn't care that no one was listening to him. I mean, I knew why no one was listening to him, he was fairly long winded, though his story did in fact have a lot of nuggets about how to kill a grimm. It wasn't that boring to me, I mean, I've had to sit through council hearings for the Daimyo and take notes.

If you really wanted boring, watch a bunch of magistrates duke it out verbally with long titles and protocol.

When that class was over I walked out with the notebook as the rest of the students started walking out. Pyrrha was behind me as we exited.

"I believe this was the first class you attended, what did you think of it, Ume?"

"I think you guys should do this class standing up, otherwise I don't think you are going to get much out of it."

"You think that'll help?" Pyrrha asked.

"I think it's a lot harder to fall asleep standing up." Though not impossible. I'd done it at least twice.

"It wasn't that bad." Pyrrha replied.

I turned my head at her then looked back at the others who were staggering half awake down the stairs. Out of the two teams, only Pyrrha, Ren, Blake and Weiss stayed awake. And I knew for a fact that Blake had only done so because she had a novel poorly hidden in her textbook.

"Alright, there is room for improvement." She conceded as we headed out into the hallway at the same time a group headed for the next scheduled class.

They got into step with us, Nora yawning exaggeratedly as Jaune looked a little more sheepish listening to our conversation.

"It's probably not the best habit to form, no."

"But he's so booooooorrrrrring." Nora said.

"You should still listen, he's an experienced hunter."

I knew for a fact that most of the class would have been soundly beaten for their blatant inattentiveness at the ninja academy, but again, I couldn't hold this world to that standard. Different culture, different methods, though decidedly more sink or swim in this case. You could pay attention or you could doze off, but if you miss something that could save your life, it was on you. Which was very much like college, after all if you didn't show up or absorb the lessons they didn't blame the professors.

"Thank you." Weiss pitched in on that. "You really need to pay attention, Yang."

"Hey, it was just a hunting story, my dad's buddies tell them all the time. I've heard a million of them." The blonde girl said, stretching herself.

"Uh huh, how many of them had the best way to ground a nevermore in them?" I replied.

The blonde actually took a moment to think.

"At least three, you attack the wing where it meets the body, right?"

"He said that?" Jaune replied.

"He mentioned that, but also that if you make it swallow a wind and dust charge in succession, it'll explode." I replied.

"Really? That actually sounds cool." Ruby piped in this time. "I wonder if I could do that with Crescent Rose, though I might need to add a revolving chamber. Oh, Weiss, Weiss, can I look at Myrtenaster to compare the parts?"

"Again, no, I know you are rightfully fascinated by my rapier, but it is a very delicate piece of equipment and I won't have you trying to take apart the chamber. If you really want to look at the parts I'll give you a copy of the maintenance guide to look at."

"Really?!" Ruby said, her pitch getting higher. "Thank you, thank you, that'd be awesome!"

She then grabbed Weiss by her midsection, who immediately reeled back at the contact.

I chuckled a little at the awkward display as we headed to the next class.

"Even if some of it is old information, they wouldn't make you take a class that was unimportant, right? Though you might need to experiment with ways to better pay attention. Like doodling or something."

"Doodling?" Jaune asked as we headed forward. "I doodle all that time, you can take notes with that?"

"If you focus the doodles on the class content, yeah. Like drawing a bird or a bear then putting arrows towards the weak spots when it's brought up to relate to a nevermore or ursa."

I pulled the notebook I had under my arm and held it up as I started walking backwards. I could easily avoid anybody who was in front of us as I continued to walk. The notebook I'd borrowed had exactly what I described, as well as a picture of a snake with Port's axe in its head. I doodled and sketched a lot when I had to remember things and even took a class about it during my first life. Though of course, most of that class was forgotten by this point.

"Huh, never thought of it that way." Jaune said as he walked forward.

"Yeah I, omph…" My back hit the wall as I turned to see the students around me start to flood into a nearby door.

"Oh, we're here." I closed my notebook and headed into the classroom. "But yeah, try to add pictures to your notes, at the very least it'll be easier to find specific ones later if you do."

"We'll keep that in mind." Pyrrha said as we started to head to our seats.

* * *

As was usual fair, Jaune had a hard time keeping up his notes in Professor, or Doctor, as he liked to be called, Oobleck's class. Jaune had trouble because Doctor Oobleck moved and talked almost as fast as Ruby did, especially when he really got into what he was talking about, which was always. It didn't seem to slow down his teammates any, or at least it didn't appear to bother them. Ren was making notes as he always did, Nora was, well, Nora was doing Nora things, which at the suggestion of Ume was now doodling the scenes in history Doctor Oobleck had been discussing. Though the accuracy of the drawings, especially the addition of Nora punting an invading army with a hammer.

Jaune didn't take the advice wholeheartedly, he barely had time to write, let alone draw in this class, but he did put a little doodle in the corner when he went on a new page, which was frequently. Unlike Professor Port, who had a few tests in his syllabus later in the year, Professor Oobleck had an essay scheduled to be written every weekend on what he was talking about. So it was clear that whether a student could keep up with him or not was their problem, not his.

Jaune had come from normal schooling to Beacon, so doing such essays wasn't too big a deal, though he'd never, in any of his previous classes, had to do so many in a single semester. Though he should have expected things would be harder once he got into Beacon, miracle that it was. Most kids his age would either be attending normal school for another two years or be heading to a trade school if they were accepted to work on a specific craft, if they continued schooling at all. Mandatory schooling stopped at seventeen, as it was accepted that legally at that time you were an adult, though Jaune didn't really feel like one.

To be fair, none of his teammates, or his friends at the new school felt like adults either. Pyrrha was very nice, very supportive though a bit awkward when asked about most social activities and interests outside of fighting or hunting. Ren was calm and very quiet, Jaune didn't know much about him but they were comfortable enough in each other's presence that it didn't really seem necessary to really talk. Not that it mattered, since Nora talked plenty for him and if he wanted Jaune could probably learn a lot about Ren second hand, probably without prompting. Though how much of that was actually true was hard to tell, since Nora had a tendency towards exaggeration. The other friends, well really only Ruby, the leader of Team RWBY (that was really redundant) was really his friend and she was more like an extra excitable little sister, which he had experience with in spades since he had seven sisters, both older and younger. He would like to get to know the rest of her team more, though they seemed more content to rely on themselves, they all seemed more or less teenagers he'd seen in his normal school environment.

Blake was quiet, pretty and stoic, he'd seen girls like that before. Weiss was very pretty, very motivated and very vocal, he'd seen, and liked, girls like that before too. Yang was boisterous and easy going, and likely very popular in his old school, he'd seen popular girls like that as well, though not usually in the circles he was in. It was an interesting team, probably all much more experienced than him, but still teenagers. There was one person who did feel strangely older, or actually just strange and honestly that was the person who he knew the least about, which was Ume.

He didn't even know how old she was, he honestly hadn't asked for fear of being embarrassed by the answer or assuming something too high or too low. She looked to be about ten, though he would buy her being a little bit older if only because she didn't act like a ten year old girl. Or a twelve or thirteen year old girl for that matter. He knew how they acted, she wasn't even close. She didn't act like a fifteen year old girl, a seventeen year old girl or even a nineteen or twenty year old girl. She didn't act like any girl of any age he knew of, partially because of how certain she seemed of, well, everything.

Even when she was surprised she didn't seem to hesitate about anything. Like once she'd made a decision she'd run straight to it and not second guess, well, anything. Weiss and Ruby were kind of like that, kind of, Weiss was motivated to move ahead and Ruby did things very quickly, but it wasn't the same, not quite. They both showed hesitation, Ruby like Pyrrha was awkward about anything not hunt related and Weiss would, while not second guess, look back and check on anything she wasn't sure about. But that didn't seem to happen with Ume, which was actually really strange. Given, it wasn't as strange as her one shotting that gigantic deathstalker, no that was in fact the strangest thing he had seen in his time at Beacon, but also sobering in a lot of ways, especially since it highlighted something he didn't like to think about.

His own relative skill and inexperience.

He couldn't say it out loud for risk of exposure, but he knew every one of his classmates were better than him, not in general but at this, at being a hunter, because unlike him, they got into this school with legitimate transcripts. But then, he had time to change that if he worked hard enough, after all, why couldn't he learn how to be a hunter? He'd known why he'd been rejected from Signal and the other preparatory schools he applied to before trying to get to Beacon, he'd been too old or they wouldn't accept him without a sponsor or his physical scores in gym weren't good enough. He'd heard a million times about why they wouldn't teach him, but not why they couldn't. He'd tried to join the normal way and they'd rejected him. His parents hadn't supported him at all in his goals either, but he knew he could do it if only someone would teach him right. It wasn't all about natural talent or support, normal people could become hunters, right?

Honestly, he wasn't so sure any more. Though his teammates' confusion and surprise at the small girl beating them all out on besting that grimm kept reassuring him that whatever she had, it wasn't normal. And while his further interactions with her confirmed it, the fact that she, who was much younger than him, and almost certainly younger than Ruby, could do something he could not in such an efficient fashion made him think maybe there was something that he lacked.

Or maybe there was just something innately different with her in general.

She didn't feel like a teenager, in her own way she already felt like an adult and it was a little creepy, honestly. He pushed it down mostly because she was friendly enough, she didn't talk down to them or try to make them feel stupid, though he couldn't help but wonder how she could have gotten this way, if she had gotten this way.

Thinking back to the conversation they had about her being from a place without hunters seemed as unreal now as it did back then, because that seemed almost unthinkable. Hunters were, well, they were everywhere. Posters, movies, comic books, video games, cereal boxes and ads, you couldn't look anywhere without seeing the famous face of a hunter, even in more rural areas. If you went to school that's all everyone talked about, who their favorite hunter was, how cool their weapon was, did you see that show about hunters... it's what everyone wanted to grow up to be when they were a little kid. Though so few actually did, he couldn't really imagine a world without hunters. But the way she said it, the way she said everything, with not a sliver of doubt, meant he didn't think she was lying. Someone hunted the grimm, soldiers she said, though if soldiers hunted the grimm, did that make her one?

Maybe? Or was she one in training like them? She killed a grimm so she could be, if she was older than she looked she'd be in their standard the first year of prep schools hunters used. Still, it wa…

"And that was how the kingdom of Vacao used up its resources. Truly a tale of excess for which all should be wary should you come to terms with your own resource management. Now it seems we have run out of time, so be sure to have your essays ready and on my desk come Monday morning."

Jaune panicked quickly as he saw while he'd trailed off in his own thoughts the class had went by in a flash. He glanced around the room and looked down at his own half finished notes. He let a breath through his teeth and turned to his partner, looking down at her neat handwriting as she gathered her stuff.

"Hey Pyrrha, do you mind if I take a look at your notes tonight after class?"

"Is something wrong?" She said in a soft voice.

"I just, my mind kind of trailed off in the middle." He stood up, gathering his stuff.

"It happens. I don't mind letting you take a look."

"Thank you," He let out a sigh of relief as he gathered his books, thanking the gods for ending up with such a nice partner. "You're a lifesaver."

"It's no problem." Pyrrha replied with a smile.

Jaune smiled back as he gathered his things. He probably shouldn't dwell like that in the middle of class. Regardless of how strange things were, he couldn't fall behind. Even if he didn't know how to fight grimm yet, he could still keep up in normal classes. Whatever it took, he'd learn how to be a hunter.

* * *

The final class of the day came after lunch and a change of clothing by the students into their combat clothing. Though a lot of the outfits, though stylized, were practical, I couldn't help but think Weiss and Ruby might need something different.

"How in the world do you fight in such high heeled shoes?"

"Pardon?" Weiss asked as I saw her walk in with her team.

"I mean it, how do you balance on those? Human feet aren't even supposed to be elevated that way, let alone properly balanced, so how in the world do you manage to fight in that?"

Weiss took the question like she took most questions, as a challenge to show her knowledge.

"It is only expected of a Schnee to show utmost grace and poise in all endeavors, including combat."

"Seriously though, you're supposed to fight in those right? Not do a ballroom dance."

"I'm not sure you can really compare, you aren't even wearing fully covered shoes."

"If you're talking about my exposed toes, it's to prevent your feet from sweating too much so they don't stink."

Honestly, the design of ninja shoes was pretty simple, and really only used so shinobi could walk without stepping on cantrips. A lot of people in Kirigakure didn't even wear shoes most of the year, and those who did either wore boots, slippers or the ninja sandals. I'd seen monks wear the wooden sandals some people favored, but in general footwear was either practical or nonexistent.

"Also, what's with the skirts, how can you jump around in those without constantly flas…"

My question was cut off by a clear stern voice.

"Welcome everyone to combat training class."

I turned to see Glynda Goodwitch at the center of the room in a pencil skirt, a white top, a purple cape and tights and heeled riding boots to match her riding crop. She honestly looked like a crossplay of a witch and a corporate secretary. If Weiss' and Ruby's skirts were combat inappropriate, this was just ridiculous, because there was no way she could run in a pencil skirt. I've tried running in a pencil skirt, unless you hike that thing up to being inappropriate, the most you can manage is a hasty walk.

"Now that we've gone over the basics of how the system will work, registered your scrolls and gone over the rules today we'll be doing combat trials between students, half will be one on one and the other half will be team fight. These matches will be rated and ranked throughout the year. You will be graded on your victories, your strategies and your progress throughout the year and will be ranked right after midterms and right before your final exams. The physical rankings, along with your academic coursework and mission reports, will determine your eligibility to move onto your next year. Are there any questions?"

My hand shot up, though wasn't immediately seen as I was dwarfed on all sides by, well, everyone. Still, Miss Goodwitch seemed to notice as she pointed towards me with her crop.

"Yes, Miss Ume."

"Is all combat done in just this room?" I asked.

"Yes, for safety reasons. Why do you ask?" She replied.

"Does this room allow you to mimic alternate fighting terrain like forests?"

"No, the space here is chosen for security, not variety. Anyway, the mission work would cover any fights in alternate environments. Do you have any other questions?"

"What about in the rain? Or heavy fog? Or in total darkness? Or deafening sound?" I replied again.

"Fighting in those conditions would impede our ability to monitor the fight." Glynda replied, a hint of annoyance coming off her but not showing in her voice.

"Well, yeah, but shouldn't students know how to blind fight? Or at least know how to tell their teammates against each other in a low light situation so they don't accidentally shoot each other?" I replied.

"While that is a good point of training, it is not the full point of the exercise. If students want to do such training they are welcome to do so on their own time. Any other questions?"

"Why such a small space? Wouldn't most hunting happen outside in a much more open environment?"

"Also a safety issue, since most students use ranged weapons, to prevent any errant bullets from hitting civilians in the chance of a failure of the safety barrier. Which you would have known if you showed up to previous classes." Glynda said, a little bit annoyed now.

"Any other questions?"

"Just one." I said this time. "How can you hunt in a pencil skirt without flas…"

I flew up into the air before I could finish that sentence.

* * *

 **Some people have noticed that no one seemed to notice how mature Ume is, which isn't true, they notice, only one of the** **m has any clue that it isn't actually normal. Considering their background only one person in the group had anything resembling a normal childhood.**

 **Anyway, reviews would be nice, thank you.**


	10. Chapter 9

PITD Chapter 9

The young girl being hoisted and hovering upside down in the air didn't hold the class' attention for long. Partially because they had seen this before, as was standard punishment if Miss Goodwitch was annoyed, but also because Miss Goodwitch started calling students forward to fight, which was much more interesting by far.

There were only one on one fights for that first day. Later in the semester there would be two on two and then full team fights. The class saw the first glimpse of exactly where they stood in their year's hierarchy. While other things did come into play about how people in your year saw you, strength was by far the most important determining factor.

After all, you couldn't be huntsmen if you weren't strong.

Not all the students went on the first day of course, it was a large class. It would take at least two weeks before that happened, but the most expected student went that day.

All eyes were on Pyrrha Nikos when she was called forward to fight.

Such looks used to make her nervous when she first entered the fight scene, it also used to make her feel determined. Now however it just made her sigh. She looked at her opponent, another girl wielding a pair of chakrams. Taking a ready position, she waited for it to begin.

The girl threw the first chakram, which Pyrrha duked under and closed the distance between them as she brought up her spear. Metal met metal, but that didn't slow down her knee coming up and hitting the girl in the sternum. Her shield followed up for another blow but stopped when she saw the girl's expectant expression as she rolled down and away as the chakram returned to its owner. With both in hand, the girl started slashing. Pyrrha rolled to the side again, bringing up her shield and through it magnetizing the weapons as they chinked off her metal before starting her offensive.

She weaved through the girl's attack, pushing back the chakrams just gentle enough and close enough that the girl didn't notice. Just a few hits and the girl's aura was pushed into red. She winced when she saw it, the awe, no cheers really, just mumblings. She noticed why immediately as she looked at the timer: twenty six seconds. That's how long the match had been. That was, bad, she should have given the girl longer, should have drawn it out. It was a disservice to give the other student so little time and this...

The crowd had that look in their eyes, nervous glances that looked away, mumblings about the unbeatable girl. That wasn't good, she was here to lose that moniker, to be normal, but her training kicked in the moment the match began. This was going to be a disaster, this was going to be...

"Woo! Go Pyrrha!"

Her eyes scanned the crowd before lingering on that of her own team, which made her smile.

Nora held Ren in a tight hug, jumping up and down yelling. Jaune was waving for her as she walked back.

"That was great, Pyrrha!"

Nora clapped, bouncing as she did. "Yeah, you totally nailed her."

"Phrasing."

The voice came from next to Jaune. Ume was standing, having been let down from her floating punishment earlier.

"You did well, very aggressive. You look like you have a lot of experience fighting people."

Pyrrha paused as she looked at the girl.

"I suppose you could say that."

It hadn't occurred to her before, but if Ume was from such an isolated village she probably didn't actually know, did she?

"We should spar some time, I've never fought someone who uses a shield before."

She replied with casual ease.

"Jaune uses a shield too." Nora said. "I bet he could watch as you two go at it, and learn a lot."

"Phrasing." Ume said again softly under her breath, a small smile on her face.

"What was that?" Jaune said again.

"Nothing, just an old joke."

"Well, that's probably a good idea. Not many people use my style."

Jaune said the last word holding up his own weapon and looking down shyly.

"Sounds great." Pyrrha replied.

It had been a long time since someone had actually asked to spar with her. She'd had assigned training partners, but a lot of them usually gave up after two or three fights. As for learning from her, people often tried to get close to figure out her secrets, to find a flaw to exploit to beat her. It had been, well, it had ended friendships before they began. A lot. It had been the nature of Mistral, with its fiercely competitive fighting scene. But this wasn't Mistral, was it? This was Vale and this was Beacon. Jaune wouldn't betray her secrets if he learned from her, he was her partner after all. Ume wasn't a student, so not actually in competition to become a hunter like the other students. Nora and Ren weren't treating her any differently, so things would be fine.

"They're starting the next match." Ren said quietly and the rest of them watched the next people get called up.

Pyrrha nodded as she turned to watch the others, her eyes scanning the room for the eyes she knew were there. She had failed at her attempt to not stand out, but for the moment it didn't matter. She had friends, not rivals, assets, associates or other words her manager had used to describe other people who she could and could not be seen around. No, she could be herself and they saw her, not her title.

* * *

I went over the notes I had made during the combat class and found mostly that whatever training the students here had, it wasn't something to snuff at. Some of the fights had been long, some like Pyrrha's had been short, some had been instant. Ruby had taken out her opponent in ten seconds flat, probably because he didn't expect her to hit him so fast wielding that huge scythe (which to be honest, if I hadn't known she could, I wouldn't have either). Lots of the weapons in the longer matches had some interesting effects, a lot of them had some form of range function in them. Some of them also used some sort of elemental techniques as well. Was that a jutsu? Did the weapon somehow automate the process for it?

Maybe, I needed more information.

I could have asked the headmaster, but I honestly didn't think I could just go up to his office to ask questions. He might not be there, for one, and if he was he'd probably be busy. He ran this school, after all, I shouldn't just assume he had time to see me whenever. I could maybe find one of the other teachers, probably not Glynda, I don't think she appreciated the question about her skirt. I should have known, but kind of wanted to be a smartass for once.

It wasn't something I could get away with at home, at least not normally. You had to be respectful to any and all higher ranked ninja and generally anyone your senior. Didn't matter if said seniors were petty, vindictive, short-sighted and dismissive of anyone younger than they were, you were supposed to be respectful to them. Which, while encouraged, didn't seem as strictly enforced here. Glynda just floated me for a few minutes then set me down gently without saying much afterwards. While I didn't like being helplessly floated in the air, it wasn't like it hurt. Even hanging upside down wasn't that unpleasant, but then I was a ninja, so spending long periods of time in strange positions was pretty normal.

As for gathering information, I did have other option, which was asking the students. Team JNPR were fairly nice in general, so they didn't seem to mind. They were often startled and surprised by what I asked them, though in this instance I think another person would be more appropriate. Especially since she used several different elements in her fight.

I broke off from Team JNPR and moved through the crowd before finding the girl who stood out just in sheer contrast against everyone else. Solid white usually did, I was actually curious how she kept something so clean. Heck, it was perfectly white in the forest now that I thought about it, that meant it had to be treated or something.

I trailed after her as they broke away from the rest of the crowd that was dispersing among the campus.

"Miss Weiss."

I said it as I ran forward after her, my feet keeping pace as I scurried forward. It was a scurry, as my legs were so short, why I prefered to half flicker from place to place at home, but then I wasn't home. I was still recovering from the previous day, well, days really, and honestly I didn't need to seem overly odd in front of everyone. New world, different standards, I stood out enough already, no need to push how much I did unnecessarily. At least in front of the other students. Team RWBY and Team JNPR knew I was strange for a little girl, though not enough for them to seem overly suspicious of me.

Weiss seemed to be a little surprised at the form of address. I guess it wasn't normal, somewhere between familiar and formal. She slowed down her step, curious and surprised though not showing on her face as I caught up to them.

"Miss Ume, did you need something?"

"Yes, actually I had a question." I said as I caught up and started walking again. She walked with me, the two of us just two meters behind her team.

"What's that?"

"How did you use so many different elements during your fight? I saw the other students use only one whenever they had their weapons out." I replied as I kept my pace at hers. I had to take two steps for every one of hers.

"Oh, that's a trait of my weapon, it's designed to utilize many different forms of dust as efficiently as possible."

She said it with pride and satisfaction in her answer as we went forward.

"Oh." I kept pace with her before I asked my next question. "What's dust?"

At that, Weiss's pride, curiosity and satisfaction shifted drastically. As did she, as she just stopped while I walked forward. I had to pause and turn to look at her, the small confident expression she had been wearing also gone as well as any trace of subtlety. I sensed similar from behind me as I saw three more girls standing behind me looking back and staring. I didn't react immediately, just turning my head.

"Did I say something strange?"

"Stra, sstrange" Weiss sputtered out. "HOW, how in the world do you NOT know what DUST is?"

I turned to look at the others, then back at Weiss who had yet to really compose herself.

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to answer that question. I know it's a resource, Professor Oobleck mentioned it in class. Is it important?"

"Is it?" She walked forward, her confusion mounting. "Dust is, dust, dust runs, it is…"

"It's a naturally occurring substance that is the world's most used energy source for technology." Blake replied, having recovered more quickly than the girl in white.

"Like coal?" I replied after a moment.

"No, of course not. Coal is inefficient and wasteful. Dust is, it's, it's mankind's most valuable tool. It's energy and life." Weiss said, pausing before searching in her pockets "It's, it's…"

She looked at me a little lost, but recognizing I probably wasn't toying with her. "You really don't know."

"I guess we don't have it where I'm from. Well, we have dust, but it's just dead skin particles."

I looked back at Ruby and Yang, who looked at each other before looking at Weiss, who spoke her confusion again looking at me.

"Where are you from?"

"The Land of Water." I replied this time.

"Where is that?" She asked.

I let out a sigh and looked down.

"I wish I knew." I said before walking forward again.

Weiss's shock waned as she started to walk forward to catch up to me as I headed towards the building. My thoughts lingered on my situation as I did. No communication, no idea how this world works, no real plan how to fix it. It was, it was pretty bad. It could be a lot worse, but it didn't change that I was up a creek without a paddle in all this as I moved forward.

Lost in my own thoughts I didn't notice the figure until a hand was on my shoulder. I looked up and saw white again, ah, she was confused but also a little worried.

"What do you want to know?"

"As much as possible, I'm here to learn after all." I replied.

"Alright, then we'll start with the basics."

* * *

Yang sat at the computer in the library as she typed her paper only occasionally glancing at her baby sister's terminal that was next to her as she worked on the essay due on Monday. While she was tempted to just slack off and let it slide, she knew it was just easier to get it out of the way on Friday, put it away, party all weekend then turn it in on Monday. Despite her easy going attitude she knew exactly what most teachers were looking for when they assigned essays, she lived with two teachers after all. Basically, don't mince words, stay on point and just make it clear you understand the material. Even with minimum word requirements you could fill out most weekend essays with just that, and if you couldn't, well, she wasn't above sending it to her dad so he could do a once over.

Ruby was doing the same, though at a faster speed. She wanted to get it out of the way too so she could play videogames or respec her weapon, again. Though unlike Yang she was required to send her paper off to her father to check for run on sentences and spelling errors that would no doubt be there. Always fast, just a bit sloppy but very hard working, that was her baby sis, which clearly grated on her sister's partner Weiss, who would undoubtedly also be taking a look at Ruby's paper.

It was like having another parent hovering with that girl. Though she seemed to be plenty preoccupied at the moment as the pale girl was sitting just out of earshot at one of the study tables. Sitting opposite her was Ume, the snarky, polite, tiny, fierce, world-weary and oh so ignorant bundle of contradictions. Currently she could add attentive and flippant at the same time as the girl had a notebook out and was taking notes on Weiss's lecture on the properties of dust.

Yang couldn't help but think Weiss looked a bit in her element talking to the girl in such detail, but she was the Schnee heiress and an avid dust mage, so of course she would have to know her stuff. Which may have been why the smaller girl and sought her out at all.

Turning away, she finished typing up her essay before doing a quick read through before comparing it with her notes.

"Done!" She heard Ruby announce proudly, jumping out of her chair. "Want to go play?"

"Give me another ten minutes, you can go ask Blake."

"Please don't." Her own partner was at an adjacent table, writing her essay by hand as she looked back to her textbook.

"Why not? You're really fast, I bet you'd be great at it." Ruby said, bouncing in her boots.

"No, thank you."

"Please! Only for a little bit, then we can read some of your books, maybe you and I can rea…"

"No" She said quickly before turning away. "I mean" The girl looked away for a moment. "I'm not done with them yet, I don't want to lose my place."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to miss that steamy scenes in your smut novels, huh Blake?" Yang teased, leaning back.

"They're not sm…"

There was an interruption as a mew sounded that made them all turn.

Three heads looked down to see a black and white cat walking on the floor before jumping up onto Blake's table, tail swishing as it mewed again.

"Ah, it's Ume's cat."

Ruby rushed over to the table, leaning over. The black and white cat looked at her for a moment before turning back to Blake and mewing.

"Wonder if he's looking for her?" Yang said, standing up and walking over.

"She's right there."

Ruby pointed to the cat, who turned before looking at Blake, tail swishing. Blake looked at him for a moment before going back to her paper. The cat walked forward, putting a paw on the paper and mewing.

"I'm not feeding you. Go ask your owner." She said.

"Oh, you know what it means, do you own a cat?" Ruby asked innocently enough, and innocently enough probably missed it when Blake froze.

"I, I did once. Not sure why he's bugging me, go bug your owner." She replied.

Danny didn't respond, instead jumping off the table onto Blake's shoulder and batting at her bow.

"Get off" She said as she bat right back at him. Yang smiled as she walked over and reached to grab the cat, who jumped away.

"He's certainly friendly with you. You two bond the other night?" Yang said.

"No idea what you're talking about."

Blake got up from her seat and reached down to pick up the cat. He didn't resist like with Yang and she walked over to where Weiss and Ume were. The two of them were so engrossed in discussion that they didn't even notice her until she dumped Danny on the smaller girl's lap.

"Ack!" The high voice of the young girl echoed as she looked down at the cat who mewed up at her and then at Blake. "Nani?! Danny?"

She paused, looking at the cat, who mewed again.

"Ā, onaka ga suiteiru." She looked up, glancing around before pausing. "How long have we been here?"

Weiss paused to pull out her scroll. "A little over two hours."

"Oh, I should probably go eat then. I'm still recovering, so I shouldn't skip meals." Ume said, standing up and stretching slightly.

"I guess that's a good place to stop. I still have more information about the different dust types. Most of it and the interactions are more theory, though. No one knows for sure what dust does together without experimentation."

"I'd love to hear it, if you want to talk later."

"Sure, since it seems you don't know much, it's important to stay informed."

"Always." Ume did a short bow to the four of them. "I will see you later then, thank you again."

"You're welcome." Weiss said with a slight smile as the girl started walking out.

Yang smiled, walking forward.

"Oh did Weisscream make a friend?"

Weiss turned to face Yang, her face passive.

"I was just doing my duty to inform the ignorant. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Sure, it's like a fairy tale isn't it? A small young girl to warm the heart of the ice queen." Yang said with a smile.

"I am not an Ice Queen." Weiss said, annoyance creeping into her voice.

"You do sort of use ice in combat a lot. And your family is super rich." Ruby said.

"That doesn't... nevermind, there's no point in continuing this conversation." She paused as she looked at the time. "Though I should probably start on my paper."

"Well, me and Blake are gonna play some games."

"I never agreed to this." Blake said in a deadpan.

"Oh come on, please." Ruby said. "Please, please, please, ppppppllllleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Blake looked up at the girl, but after a few moments she realized what Yang, her uncle Qrow and her father all knew for fact. That when Ruby was set on something, resistance was futile.

"Fine." She said, standing up with a sigh. "One game, then maybe dinner."

"Yay!" Ruby said. "Then we can get cookies, right?"

"Just remember to eat a balanced meal first." Weiss said as she stretched a bit. "I should probably eat before I get started too."

"Alright, video games then dinner, team RWBY move out!" Ruby said, running ahead.

Yang chuckled to herself as she gathered up her books and Ruby's forgotten supplies.

* * *

 **Bit about relationships here, mostly how Ume sort of gets on with team RWBY and JNPR. Ume isn't naturally very mean, next week we'll go into the first parts of laundry pick up and the weekend in Vale. It's a bit slow now, but I'm not gonna jump too much unless necessary or if things simply don't actually happen.**


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I got up early that day, stretching quietly as I went through the list of teams I had to pick up laundry from. Mostly it was first and second years because most of the third and fourth would already be on missions. Most upper years started missions almost immediately after arriving. I was told this was because the first two years of hunter schools were a weeding process while the last two years were about gaining as much practical experience as possible by working in the field with experienced hunters overseeing them. The weeding process would cut the lowest thirty percent in combined battle rankings, mission success rate and academic scores each year. There was an option to repeat the year if you failed, but apparently a lot of students straight up dropped out if they didn't make it the first time out of embarrassment and joined other occupations, usually the army.

It was a pretty competitive system, but I understood the reason to apply such pressure. If there was no penalty for not doing your best, then a lot of people would simply try to slide by and that wasn't an attitude you should have if you were a warrior.

The bullhead was leaving at 8am to go into Vale, so I started at about five thirty as I made my rounds. I started with the first years, as I was staying in the first year dorms, and went from the top floor down.

I mostly got bleary eyes and hazy nods as I explained how this was going to go down. Most of them only took a minute or two to gather up their clothing into bags and I sealed them up into a page of a notebook I brought with their team name on it. Though there was some trouble with certain key teams.

The brown haired young man who answered wearing pajama pants and no shirt looked down at me for a moment as someone yelled from inside the room.

"Who the hell is knocking this early?"

The young man didn't answer him as I looked up raising an eyebrow, instead he opened the door wider to a larger boy with darker hair to show me standing there. I started speaking.

"Good morning. As promised, I am here to pick up your laundry, so if you wo…."

"About time," The darker haired boy said as he rolled out of his bed. "The hell took you so long to get here."

My eye twitched at being interrupted, but I pushed it down and continued.

"I was about to say, if you would just gather your clothes up into individually marked bags I will be taking them to be cleaned and they will be brought back to you later this eve…."

"We don't have any bags."

I blinked at the boy who made his way to the door as his teammate stepped aside and let out a breath.

"You are supposed to have cloth laundry bags with your names written on them, that's in the student ha…"

"Who reads that anyway, besides it's not like you have anybody else's bag so you can just carry our laundry without them."

I glanced around the room. The two other boys who were awake (the third still sleeping) didn't say anything in reply, though the brown haired boy seemed to be digging around in a pile of discarded clothing to gather his things together.

"It's to prevent your laundry getting lost or being mixed up, for now if you have any boxes or garbage bags you can us…"

"You want us to toss our clothes in garbage bags? These are hunter outfits."

My teeth began to grate at the continual interruptions from the boy at the door but I counted slowly before starting again.

"Or a box, as long as it has your name on it, it'll be a good substitute for now. I'll just give you a few minutes to get it rea…"

My sentence was interrupted not by words but by the door slamming shut into my face.

"And I'll wait out here."

I blinked for a moment at the sudden movement and an irritated breath went through my nose but I pushed it down. There was no point in getting angry or lashing out, they were just a bunch of stupid kids after all. I let out a sigh as I waited for them to get ready. After a few minutes I felt the presence reappear, and more importantly I felt the menace as the door opened and a box overflowing with dirty clothing soared through it. I had already sidestepped and watched it go. It hit the other wall with a smack and the box tipped and spilled its smelly, sweaty contents all over the hallway. I looked at the pile for a moment before turning up to the swelling of amusement that stood in the door.

"Well, there's the clothing, go ahead, pick it up."

I looked at him and then looked at the clothing. I could feel the amusement in him and his teammates as they looked at me through the doorway.

The amusement turned immediately to annoyance as I started to head towards the stairs.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm on a schedule and I have lots of people to visit today. So if you want your laundry to be picked up, next week, be sure to have your laundry bags ready and by the door when I come by again."

I didn't turn when I said it but I felt the anger build up into him as I did so. I also felt what he intended to do next.

I sidestepped the ball of dirty socks that was aimed at my head, then the shirts, the boxers and finally the box. I didn't doubt that the hallway was now covered in the team's dirty laundry, but I still didn't turned back to look as I entered the stairwell. After a moment, the boy from earlier sprinted after me his emotions shifting from angry to outraged as he got to the door of the stairs.

"Get back here! You're supposed to take our laundry for us. How are we supposed to go a week without laundry?"

I paused on the landing and looked up at the boy, meeting his gaze with my own. I'm not sure what he saw in my eyes but it made him flinch.

"I'm not supposed to do anything. I am not an employee here, nor am I a servant. Not that I would take this kind of behavior if I was. I volunteered to do this because I knew how inconvenient it was for the students with the laundry room out of commission."

I took a step up to look at him.

"So I suggest you either learn how to sink wash your clothes or just have your stuff ready next week, as well as some manners."

"Why you?"

The boy's face turned red as he stared at me, but by this point his outburst had gotten the attention of the rest of the floor. I could feel curiosity and annoyance from here, as well as hear doors cracking. The boy was livid, but if he attacked me here he'd have witnesses and, as pointless at it would have been for him to do so, assaulting a little girl was probably frowned upon.

* * *

Weiss was just exiting the bathroom as a knock came to the door. It was fairly early and a weekend, so she wasn't sure who it was. She'd have to answer, her other three teammates were still asleep this early in the morning and would likely sleep a good part of it, if not into the afternoon. They had actually had dinner first before heading back to play video games and despite Blake's initial protests she had apparently beaten both Ruby and Yang several times in several different games. She hadn't been there for all of this, having gone to the library to write her paper, but they were still playing in the student's lounge when she returned, Ruby and Yang insisting on rematches in response to their constant losses.

It was amusing to watch and she might try one or two games later when she had the time. Certainly not late into the night, as it would ruin her sleep schedule, but maybe between some team training and meals. They hadn't done such things at home, a Schnee didn't play such mindless games after all.

Answering the door, she was only half surprised to find Ume, who was standing there with a notebook. She didn't seem weary or tired, so she probably had gotten to sleep at a decent time last night, unlike her team.

"Good morning Miss Weiss, I'm here to pick up your laundry."

"I see, well, I'll have it in a moment."

Weiss didn't close the door as she went around the room. Her teammates had agreed to keep dirty clothes in their laundry bags to prevent cluttering up the already small room, so it was easy enough to collect them. While they were loud and somewhat annoying when it came to keeping things clean, they were fairly reasonable.

The four bags together didn't weigh too much as Weiss brought them to the door and Ume looked at them as they were placed in front of her.

"You know, you're the first team to actually have this ready."

"Well, keeping them in the laundry bags helps save space." Weiss said as she glanced around. "Are we the first team you've visited today?"

"No, in fact, I'm almost done with the first years. Why do you ask?"

"Well, shouldn't you have a laundry cart with you?" Weiss said. She had seen several of those before, so she expected the small girl to have one as well to help with her task.

The girl smiled and let out a snort through her nose.

"You're the first one to notice that too. Given, you're also the most awake person I've seen today." She held up her notebook. "I'm actually storing all the clothes in here."

"In a notebook?" Weiss said skeptically.

"Just watch." She said before pulling some string from her sleeve. She tied hold the tops of the laundry bags together. Flickering through the book pages, she got to one that had Team RWBY on the top of the page as well as some foreign characters on it. She held the page to the side of the bags. "Shiru."

There was a pop and the bags just disappeared.

Weiss stared at the empty space for a moment before looking up at Ume.

"Where, how?"

She looked up at the girl, who held up the page. The characters had changed, though she still couldn't read it.

"It's in here, it's a seal, you can use it to hold things." Ume said as she closed her books. "It's super convenient, right?"

Convenient, impossible, and broke so many laws of physics. Given, a lot of semblances did just that, her semblance did that too, especially the summoning, even if she wasn't very proficient at it.

"Is that your semblance?"

She shook her head.

"No, it's something from my home. Lots of people use them. Anyway, it's why I'm the one gathering up all the clothes. It makes things go way faster."

Weiss could imagine. There were dozens of teams in the school with lots of clothes. Even a handful of people could fill a few laundry carts, but she claimed to have all of that in just her one notebook.

"Can anybody use those?"

"No, of course not. There's a trick to it." She said. "Though I sup…"

She trailed off, looking past and beyond Weiss into the room her and her team shared.

"That's really unsafe."

Weiss turned her head. "What is?"

"The beds, is one of those held up with bedsheets, and the other books?"

"It's proven remarkably sturdy." Plus they didn't have much room otherwise.

"Yeah, no, that's a disaster waiting to happen. Also, what did those books ever do to you? That much weight on them is going to ruin the covers."

Weiss couldn't really argue with that, she could see an indentation of the bed's leg forming on the cover if she looked.

"We don't have a lot of options."

"How about a hardware store? I'm sure you could get some metal joints to slip onto there."

"Metal joints?" Weiss asked, a little confused. "Do they sell those at a hardware store?"

"Well, they should, I mean I think they would. I've never been to one but, wait, they exist, right?"

"Of course they exist." Weiss said quickly. People had to get tools somewhere. "I've just never been to one." That actually probably sounded strange.

"Aren't you guys expected to maintain your weapons?"

"We are, but most of the tools are here. There would be no need to go to such a place."

Not that she would have had to at home either. In fact, Weiss had very few memories of ever going to a store for, well, anything. Anything you needed someone would go get for you. Usually not from a store either, but straight from a distributor or as a special order. It wasn't just because it was expected but was also a safety measure. She knew of people who worked for her father being attacked while going to a public area like a store, so it was out of the question for someone like the Schnee heir to take such a risk.

"Oh, well, I'm going into Vale today, I can probably pick you some up. They don't cost too much. Though I'll need to measure bed legs real quick." Ume paused before stepping through the threshold into the room. "If you don't mind."

"Oh, you can go ahead."

She was just taking a measurement, she didn't think her team would mind. Her team probably wouldn't stir at all. Well, Blake might, but Ruby and Yang slept like the dead most days.

"Alright, it'll only take a second."

The smaller girl was surprisingly quiet. It was only in the relative silence that Weiss realized the girl's footsteps made no sound as she walked across the room and took a piece of one of the bandages on her arm, wrapped it around the base and marked it with a pen she produced from her sleeve (does she have pockets in there?).

She did the same, measuring the approximate height before marking something in her book and walking out.

"Alright, well, I should get going. I do have a schedule to keep."

"Okay then, thank you for picking up our clothes. It would be unsanitary to keep our sweaty clothes for so long."

"I'll be delivering them fresh tonight. You have a nice day, Miss Weiss."

"The same to you, Miss Ume."

* * *

The rest of the collecting went pretty smoothly, most of the students too tired to really do much more than nod and get their stuff together. Though I did spend a bit of time writing down laundering notes from Coco, the leader of Team CFVY, who had a list of instructions for each and every article of her clothing. I didn't fault her on that, if someone had paid more attention when they were laundering my clothing we wouldn't be in this mess.

Once I had all the first and second year teams I headed down to the loading platform, which were at the end of the large path that extended past the pools that surrounded the academy like a moat. I said like a moat because said pools were not in fact deep enough to be a real hinderance to anything going through it. They were more reflecting pools than anything. Around the moats and further grounds were concrete arches which, if they actually had a wall between the huge open spaces between them, they would make a decent barrier because of their height. So unless they were also aqueducts they were superfluous architecture that was supposed to make the grounds look more impressive.

Walking down the path, I looked at the dark steel streetlamps that lined the way, absently wondering how much power was wasted keeping those lit through the night as I wandered to the platform where, lined up one next to the other, were metal containers with the wings hanging out. It had been a long time since I'd seen a flying machine, but it was unmistakable as I walked forward. As I approached I saw familiar green hair standing with several Beacon staff who were in their uniform. Holding his thermos, wearing a short sleeved collared blue shirt and tan slacks was Professor Oobleck. He was a tall and lanky man with perfectly round glasses, his shirt collar was up and his shirt was tucked in on one side but not the other. Not that he seemed to care as he basically disappeared for a second before appearing in front of me. I would have been more surprised if I wasn't fond of that trick myself, though honestly I wasn't sure how he managed it unless that was really strong coffee, it might have been because his energy spiked as he took a sip of it.

"Good morning Miss Ume, how are you today? Did you gather all the clothing adequately or experience any trouble with the students? I know the first years especially can be difficult in the morning."

He said those three sentences in the span it would take a normal person to say the first one, so I took a moment to adjust to the speed. I could, because I had to yesterday as well.

"Yes, I have all the clothes with me and I'm ready to go. They were a bit tired but most of them were fine, I even got a few thank yous from some of the more concious students, which was nice."

"Yes, yes, it is good to see young people so courteous. It is after all quite a service to have one's clothing picked up for one and not a luxury usually afforded to hunters, especially on a mission. I hope that in the future they will be more awake so they could fully understand."

He sped through the sentence like he was a presentation timer, only pausing to take a swig of whatever was in that cup.

"Now, you were informed that you would have a guide to help you through the intricate and complicated streets of Vale between picking up and dropping off. You have likely come to the conclusion that that person is myself, in which you would be correct. I have been informed you wish to do some shopping today, which I do not mind in accompanying you to do as Vale has many such establishments to get whatever one may need, including a very large mall, which you might spend some time perusing."

Seriously, how had this dude not passed out from the amount of air he was losing? Because he certainly wasn't stopping to breathe when he spoke.

"A visit to a mall would be nice." I said. "But first let's head off to wherever it is we're going in…" I paused. "What do you call those flying things anyway?"

"They are called bullheads, named for their unique shape that was inspired by the fish of their same name as well as the coloration. They are considered the standard in small transport aerial vessels, though there are variations from country to country, I am told the Mistral bullheads have a very classical shape and design to them."

Pause, sip.

"The Beacon bullheads are always available for students' use to enter the city when they are done with classes for the day or on the weekends, though there is a cut off time when they will stop returning. During weekdays and Sunday night that cut off is 10pm, on the weekends it is 2am, so if you ever need to head into Vale during the week you only need to ask and they will take you like any other student."

"That's all? I don't need an ID or anything?" I said as I started walking to the bullhead.

"Well, you will, but that will be taken care of soon. You see, after we drop off the clothing and the workers, one of the first orders of business will be to get you a Beacon issued scroll. It is considered an utmost priority as scrolls act as cards to pay for meals, open lockers, open the door to your room as well as your identification in and outside of Beacon. It will also act as the primary means of communication you will have should you go into the city in the future and need assistance or have questions that the staff could assist you with."

"So once I have one you'll what, allow me to go to the city by myself?" I replied as we sat down into the plane.

"We would want for you not to go into the city unattended, but if you feel the need we can not very well be everywhere to stop you. So it would be better if you had some form of connection should the need arise. It will also be your link to the codex network, which you will no doubt find a convenient means to answer any questions you have that we cannot answer."

"Well yeah, that would be nice. Though I much prefer talking to people who know what they're talking about when it comes to learning things. You can read a book or an article, but if it isn't comprehensive you can't exactly ask it a question." I said.

"Ah yes, that is a problem with the written work. The finite nature of writing while more far reaching and accessible to a broader audience lacks much of the depth of an in person discussion. Though there is still the problem that a person might have bias on whatever topic you inquire about based on their own feelings and experience."

"That's the same with written works. In fact, it's worse with written works because it's not just the author's bias, it's the bias of whomever edited and reviewed the piece. Or are you going to tell me there isn't some board editing the textbooks to make sure certain inconvenient aspects of history are deleted?" I replied.

He actually paused for a moment before replying. Curiosity swirling to slight shock but ultimately going into acute interest.

"You believe that history books are biased, Miss Ume?"

"Of course they are." I said, resisting rolling my eyes. "History is written by the winners after all, and then edited by the government. It happened where I was from frequently enough, I'm sure it's happened here. No long lasting kingdom has a bloodless past, no government is completely innocent just like no person is completely unbiased. Something like unaltered facts can be very inconvenient for keeping a populus from generating excessive negative emotions that may cause some problems in the future."

He looked at me, his interest and curiosity swirling more, some disbelief was mixed in there, but it didn't seem to be at what I was saying, maybe that I was saying it.

"I am surprised that someone so young has such a cynical view of the world. History is an important part of our world, for it is with knowledge of our past and our mistakes that we can move forward to the future. However, if such knowledge may be edited for the benefit of keeping morale, you should also know that absolute trust in the government is part of the glue that keeps the kingdom's standing against the grimm. So I would warn you about spreading such ideas to the general public."

"I don't plan on standing on a soapbox and shouting it to the world. I'm just saying looking in books for accurate history can be a bit of a crap shoot if said history doesn't take into account all the variables. Almost every war, every conflict really, is a result of a failing on both sides of the equation. People don't just go to war, after all, there is always a reason, usually several dozens, a lot of which has nothing to do with actually going to war. Even little unimportant details like a short drought or a lack of a certain import can evolve into a major conflict under the right circumstances. All angles should always be examined when you're looking at history if you really want to prevent it from repeating itself." I said. "Nevermind that the fact a person's personal experience does color their opinion means that you're not just learning about the subject, you're learning about them, and learning how and why other people do things is always a bonus."

"You are also exceptionally thoughtful for a little girl if you think so much of learning about other people. Most young people are more inwardly focused when it comes to themselves and their group of friends."

"Well, I'm pretty ahead of the curve in that regard. I already know full well who and what I am." I replied to him.

"And what is that?"

"Who I am is a very small girl who knows a lot of big words, what I am is precocious." I smiled at him. "But you already figured that out, didn't you?"

"I figured out you have the capacity to answer a question without truly answering a question." He said, taking another sip of his coffee. "And that we somehow spent the entire bullhead trip speaking of history without speaking of history. Which is atrocious in and of itself, considering the rich history of Remnant."

"Well, if you want to talk, I'm all ears. If we're spending the day together maybe you can fill me in on things they left out of the history books."

* * *

 **People have speculated why Ume doesn't just library binge, this is part of the reason. You should remember that what she's discussing did in fact happen in a major way in Sugar Plums so Ume being more than a little skeptical of history books makes sense.**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Remnant didn't have a very long recorded history, but that was only what was recorded. Bartholomew Oobleck knew that very well.

He was a trained huntsman, but his doctorate was actually in archeology which, while considered unusual for his field, was not unheard of as the ruins of ancient civilizations were almost universally in what was considered dangerous territory. Though it would be more accurate to say that anywhere outside the walls of the kingdoms was dangerous territory. Even settled areas were under constant attack. Grimly enough, if you actually stopped to travel across land by foot, you couldn't reach another kingdom before stumbling over at least a half a dozen dead settlements, some of which remained abandoned after the fact.

Reconstruction was an ongoing process throughout the world as the kingdoms tried to keep up with an ever expanding population, but tragedies happened every day and as such lives and knowledge were lost. This had been happening for longer than recorded history, as was proven by the remnants of fallen kingdoms that have all but been forgotten from human memory, waiting to be rediscovered if someone were to only look.

Though that didn't stop the fact that looking in and of itself was very dangerous.

The amount of time, equipment and training for archeology was immense on a normal scale, but on top of that it was needed a team of trained hunters to do so safely, which was harder to get than you'd think. Any deployment of hunters had to be approved by the council and it was hard to get approval for anything besides protecting outward settlements without a lot of money or a lot of connections.

Oobleck was the latter and often during school breaks came as protection for colleagues who couldn't otherwise attend such sites safely. It was such assignments that had attracted him to the field in the first place.

"Can't you bring a student team along for those?" Ume inquired as they walked along the streets.

"Most students aren't interested in spending their breaks at digs, and even then I'd need approval either as an official mission or from their legal guardians if they were to go on their own time. I was not kidding when I said it was dangerous work, some of the most untouched sites are also the most dangerous in terms of older and stronger grimm. Much like more recent settlements, grimm seem to congregate among the ruins of human structures. There has been a lot of research about this behavior, maybe of it being a warning or maybe because the emotions of the former residents somehow cling to the structure, drawing the grimm to the gloom." Oobleck responded.

"I could see the latter, places of tragedy have an energy all their own, an imprint, really, of the lives left behind."

Oobleck nodded in agreement as he looked ahead. After getting into some basic history, he had gotten into his hobby outside of teaching. The rediscovery of history was no small task, and it was one that he devoted a lot of time to outside his profession. To his delight, his companion was in agreement with that. She was an immensely curious child, not unintelligent, simply curious, especially about things people seldom seek to know or really think about. He did not know if it was because of cynicism or actual curiosity, but she had no problems asking or believing him about the dangers involved or the real threats that lay outside in the world beyond the safety of the walls.

"Ah, I believe we've arrived at our first destination." Oobleck said as they arrived at the entrance of the mall.

It was an open air mall, high glass ceilings to let light in with several hanging plants to give it a more natural look. Oobleck knew for a fact that several of the nicer parts of the area used extensive greenery to give the concrete and glass city a more natural look. The planted, trimmed trees and hanging flowering plants were some of the only bits of nature a lot of people who lived in the city ever saw, some people spent their entire lifetimes without ever truly seeing a forest up close because of the danger such places posed. There were no parks in Vale, as living space was considered more important in the city's planning, yet even still it wasn't enough. Space would always be at a premium as the walls could not be moved for fear the reconstruction period would be capitalized on by the grimm to attack. They were not as unintelligent as most people thought, especially the older ones, and a place as crowded as the kingdom of Vale would be a prime target.

They didn't have to go far to find the first stop of the day. The glass walls of the store had the name in frosted letters on the glass.

"Codex again?" The young girl responded to the stylized sign. "Are they the only company that makes scrolls?"

"No, but they are the only company authorized to program them. Scrolls are manufactured by several different companies, but they are required to accept and use the same software." Oobleck replied.

"They have a monopoly then?" She responded, walking forward with Oobleck into the store.

"In a way, unlike the hardware companies, Codex is not privately owned. It is, in fact, a joint venture of all four of the major kingdoms. As such, use of basic communications during scrolls and use of the codex network is free for any individual with a scroll."

"And these?"

The girl indicated with a finger a line up of deluxe service packages and different models of scrolls.

"Extra services mostly, but actual phone services and basic connectivity is required under law to be provided at no cost to ensure that all settlements can afford to stay connected to the Codex. Communication is considered a necessity for our survival."

"Which is why they aren't having the software companies compete to up the cost of it." She paused before speaking again. "As well as creating a nonstop profit margin to all the kingdoms governments for those who do pay for the extra services."

Not a single word on the generosity of such an act, but straight onto how the money was made for it.

"Money is required for maintenance of the CTT towers." Oobleck replied as he looked up and recognized the sales associate coming up. He was a young man with brown hair and eyes named Tanner.

"Professor, good morning, did something happen to your scroll again?" Tanner said it brightly as he walked over.

"No, I have not been on a dig recently that has been less than kind to my scroll, no." Oobleck replied. "Though honestly I never expect it when it happens, though last time it couldn't be helped, that Nereididae snuck up on us while we were sleeping and nearly devoured half the camp."

That's what he got for not stocking up on the good stuff before he left. But then, he had been awake for about two or three days which, while not his record, did make him nodding off on watch understandable even if the results were frustrating.

"Nereididae?" The girl looked up at him, curiosity in her eyes..

"Native grimm to Vacao desert, usually only a few meters long that dwells under the sands. Usually you can see when they approach because of bumps appearing under the sand, but this was a much older one, much larger than usual. Took quite a bit of time to take down."

And some tactics he did not wish to repeat in the future. Even if he was quite fond of using fire on his missions, using himself as a flaming projectile had not been pleasant, especially when the large worm like grim swallowed him whole.

"Thankfully there were no fatalities, unfortunately a lot of the data was not recovered as it was thrown into its stomach. Regardless, that is not why I am here, no. This young woman here needs a Beacon issued scroll."

Tanner glanced down at Ume, taking a second to evaluate the girl before turning back to Oobleck.

"Isn't she a little young to be at Beacon?"

"She is not actually enrolled, she is a class auditor who is visiting from another country. We thought it pertinent that she acquired a scroll since she didn't have one when she arrived here." Oobleck replied.

"Ah," Tanner said, accepting the answer or at least seeming to as he turned towards the girl and leaned over to look at her on eye level. "Well then, we the base models in black or white, though if you'd rather have the cover in a brighter color we have a couple of those in stock. They even have some nice patterns on them."

"You'd look less condescending if you bend your knees when you're trying to talk to a shorter person." Ume replied in a deadpan, eyes half lidded at the man.

Oobleck raised an eyebrow at the girl's change in tone.

"Also, you should address both customers when you see them enter a store together, nevermind you should never talk about another when they're present like they aren't there, even if they appear young."

She said it before looking up at Tanner and giving him a glare worthy of Glynda Goodwitch before speaking again.

"And I would like a black scroll, please."

Tanner seemed to take a concious effort to not flinch away at the action, and Oobleck didn't blame him. His spine stiffened before he pulled himself up to his full height before saying in a trained, even voice.

"Alright, I'll go bring one out."

And he retreated to the back to get a scroll.

The girl watched the scene and without comment on it, turned to Oobleck and asked in the same curious tone.

"So what's the difference between Beacon issued scrolls and normal ones?"

"Miss Ume, was that really necessary? He likely did not mean any offense in his actions. He is a very hard working young man who has been at this store for nearly two years." Oobleck said.

The girl blinked for a moment as she processed his words.

"What?"

"I'd imagine you'd be on better behavior." Especially since up until this point she had appeared to be nothing but civil.

"I only gave him the same amount of respect he gave me. He ignored basic manners, there was no way he didn't see me." She replied.

"That's not what I meant. You very nearly made him jump when you looked at him like that, and I don't honestly blame him." He said, looking back at the conversation. Yes, she hadn't been greeted, but that reaction was a bit extreme.

She blinked again before she looked down at her feet.

"Was it really that bad?"

"I don't think I've ever seen someone so small give off so much malice." He replied, crossing his arms. "Which, while impressive in its own right, is not appropriate behavior around a civilian. Did the way he addressed you really upset you that much?"

Not looking up, the girl started scratching her nose absently.

"It, well yeah, it offended me. Talking about someone like they aren't there, well, it's a bit of a snub where I come from, like that person isn't worth your time. Nevermind that he talked to me like, well..."

"Like you were a child?" Oobleck inquired.

She winced at that and nodded.

"Okay, I suppose it sounds strange to be mad about that."

Did she not like being treated her age? Well, in honest truth she certainly didn't act her age, if not for the small stature and very high voice he could very well imagine he had spent the last hour speaking to a college student or one of the third or fourth years.

"I'm certain he didn't actually mean any harm by it."

She let out a sigh.

"No, I guess he didn't. I guess I'm too used to people acting that way when they're trying to directly insult me."

That was an interesting statement indeed. Was that what it was like in her hometown? Did people only treat her her age as a means to demean her?

"Miss Ume, I have to ask. Where you are from, are you considered an adult?"

The girl blinked for a moment before looking up, not directly looking at his eyes, but at his face.

"Um, well, technically I am. I can't like, drink and stuff, but legally yes, I'm recognized as being responsible for my own actions."

"Ah, how long has it been that way?" Oobleck asked.

"About four years. Since I'm an orphan, I was legally recognized as an independent entity when I finished schooling, which happened when I was nine."

Nine years old, that was very young to make someone responsible for their own actions, but it wasn't unheard of. Though not confirmed, there were stories and writings found of civilizations with rulers who were that young. Still, while it didn't wholly account for her intelligence, it did explain somewhat her maturity if she was indeed expected to be an adult at such a young age.

"You understand that culturally no one will see you that way here."

"It's the same at places at home." She sighed again. "I overreacted. I'm sorry."

"You do not have to apologize to me." Oobleck said.

She rubbed the back of her head.

"I know, I, it's been kind of stressful the last few days. So much uncertainty. There seems to be so much that's, well, unknown. I guess I'm not used to not really being informed on stuff. I mean, I don't know everything, heck, I don't know a lot of things most of the time, but I try to keep up to date on what's most prudent. But here, I got nothing. It's almost all new to me, and it's put me a little off."

Oobleck let out a soft breath as he kneeled down in front of her. He was still a full head taller than her doing so, but it put him more on her level. She really was quite small for a, if he counted right, thirteen year old girl. Was that a genetic disposition of her people or a sign of malnourishment? It was something he would probably inquire about later.

"Most people would feel that same way if they were thrown into an unfamiliar environment. It is nothing new and I believe you have behaved admirably so far in your attempts to gather and assess your situation. It seems to me that there are several cultural variations from what you are used to, and as such misunderstandings will be unavoidable. If something startles or confuses you, though, I'll be happy to clear up any troubles you may have. It is my job, after all."

She smiled at him, it was a small, slight thing in which she showed no teeth.

"Yeah, I guess it is. But I really should have known better that time. I guess I'm not too used to following other people's lead on things."

"Following usually is a sign of trust, and I understand Peter talking about your view on that in the forest. I can see how it might be difficult to trust someone from a place you know so little about."

"No, no, I trust you. Or at least, I trust you know your stuff. You don't strike me as the type of person to spread false information just because. The incident with Professor Port was also a bit of stubbornness on my part as well as a bit of worry. I really shouldn't have though, he's quite a force to be reckoned with."

She absently adjusted the piece of wood set into the tie in her hair. It resembled something Oobleck knew to be a part of a musical instrument, but for all he knew it could just be a shape that had some significance to Ume's culture as well. Really, he would just like to sit down with her in private to have a chat about just that. If she really was from some isolated place that had no interaction with this world, the history would just be fascinating to learn and compare.

"That he is." Oobleck agreed looking up to see Tanner walk back with a box in his hands. "Now let's see about setting you up with a scroll then."

"Alright." Ume said, walking with him to the small table Tanner had set up.

* * *

Setting up the scroll took about thirty minutes, with just some of that time being Oobleck adding some numbers from his own to mine. We then went over some of the features. I was going to be on a Beacon plan, which was paid by the school and directly connected to its network, which apparently was about as fast as it could be because the school network connected directly to the CTT tower, which was the major hub for Codex for the entire kingdom. I could get on the Codex network, stream videos real time, unlock my door, summon a rocket locker (which was, well, it was cool and strange at the same time but also incredibly unnecessary in my case), play video games both on the phone and connecting to a larger screen to do so, monitor my aura (which registered as zero on the scroll), communicate with other scrolls and download various apps. So basically it was a smart phone, but thinner.

I inquired about the actual sturdiness of the device, but I was reassured that while the cheaper phones were pretty fragile, Beacon modules were designed to last. Though honestly I guess that should have been the case since Beacon modile phones cost twenty times the price of the cheapest scroll. I fiddled with the phone a bit before I figured I should test something. Placing it in a seal in my sleeve and having Professor Oobleck call it did confirm that the phone registered as inactive or disconnected when it was in whatever other space seals counted at, so I'd probably need a thigh pouch or something.

I needed some other clothing regardless. While I could, and often did, just wear my regular outfit in different ways, I needed some clothing just for occasions when I would want to blend in without using chakra, and also to train in. So I decided to peruse some of the stores looking for outfits.

Professor Oobleck looked less than thrilled by the prospect of going clothes shopping with me, so I basically told him he could park himself at a bookstore while I went around by myself. He seemed skeptical at first, but I promised I wouldn't leave the mall and would call him when I was done so he could come pay for stuff with the school card. That seemed to sell him on that, or maybe he really just didn't want to be seen being dragged around by me in and out of dressing rooms. He was certainly relieved when I gave him the out. I'd have rolled my eyes, but most guys I'd known in both my lives just weren't that interested in how their clothing looked most the time, let alone had opinions or interested in what girls actually wore. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past Suigetsu, Gonmaru or Benjiro walking around in paper sacks if they could get away with it. The only reason the others even cared about their clothing was because they were either raised with the mindset of always looking your best (Hiroshi) or had two female teammates to bug him about it (Chojuro).

So I set off and went exploring the mall. I occasionally got weird looks, but mostly I just wandered from store to store and found myself with an annoying and frequent problem.

Nothing here freaking fit me right. Or at least nothing I'd actually want to wear did.

I'd wandered into some general clothing stores to start with, but most of the sections with just regular athletic wear didn't have my size. The children's sections of the store had my size, but only in little heart patterns and acidic pastels for the girls. The boy's section was slightly better, but only slightly. The textile quality of the clothing did not impress me in the least. Even the over sized supply clothing was better quality than this thin crap. Never mind they didn't have any pouches I could use that weren't held on by cheap velcro or just some tacky fanny pack.

I found better stuff, unsurprisingly, at some of the shops that seemed more suited towards hunters and huntresses. That clothing was actually padded and the fabric quality wasn't something I could just tear through, but like before they didn't have any of the general clothing in my size and, even if they did, it was much much more expensive. I tried a few more stores before giving up trying to find anything I could actually use in such a place. It was made for a general public's use, not for shinobi, so cost effectiveness would outweigh actual practicality at the general stores and active hunters and students at Beacon would be in their late teens and mid twenties, so of course they couldn't accommodate someone like me, but it was still frustrating.

I contemplated going to a tailor, but that might be a bit too expensive. Especially since I could probably do it my…

Well, that was an idea actually, and one I immediately followed to a fabric store in the mall. It was a fairly large store, well stocked and well lit. It had a dedicated fabric store too, instead of a general crafts one. When I asked for cloth that one might use for hunters clothing the girl behind the register, between checking out a few people, actually pointed me out a section for it too. I walked down the brightly lit aisles filled with rolls of fabric as I fiddled with my phone. I'd need some videos on how to use an electric sewing machine and I'd have to hope they either had one at the school or would let me buy one here, but still it was much better than trying to get a tailor on the job. I'd been trying to learn how to use a sewing machine anyway, so that was a plus, especially since the excess of time I'd have when I wasn't trying to find a way back ho…

I trailed off as I glanced down the aisle to the section I was in and saw a girl at the end unsuccessfully trying to get a ream of fabric down from the top shelf. I glanced around the store, it was fairly large but there didn't seem to be many workers in this section. I saw a few girls at the counter, but they were fairly busy cutting and dealing with customers, so I could see how this section might have gotten overlooked.

The girl trying to get the reem was, well, colorful was one way I could describe her. She had, from what I could see from behind her, long brown and pink hair that was tied up in a ponytail with a white ribbon. She was wearing a sundress with a white ribbon tied around the center, a brown mini coat with white trim, and white tights that went into pink boots with brown heels. It was all coordinated in a such a way that couldn't be anything but custom made. I mean, the pink and white together was easy enough to find, but matching the exact shade, especially with the brown, no way.

I saw a pink gloved hand reaching up with a matching parasol and trying to snag the edge of the roll with a jump as frustration rolled off her when I got closer. That was what caught me off guard as well, because that meant she had an awakened aura. Was she from Beacon? She could have been an upper year. Or maybe a graduate. She was short, but proportion wise probably fully grown, not that I could judge. I probably wouldn't be much taller if and when I ever got to full physical maturity.

"Do you need some help?"

I inquired to the woman, who turned in frustration but only paused when she found herself looking down. Well, I was a full head shorter than she was.

Frustration was replaced with curiosity as she seemed to glance around for a second. Was she looking for an adult or something?

"I asked, do you need some help? You looked like you were having trouble getting something down."

She looked at me again, turning her head. She then looked up at the fabric, her curiosity swirling with interest before she pointed up at a roll of white fabric near the top. I nodded, curious a bit myself at the silence before I walked to the wall, put a foot on the wooden divider and started walking up it.

I could feel curiosity mix with surprise as I treaded up the fabric to the top shelf and grabbed the white fabric before turning.

"Need anything else?"

The woman looked at me, hands on her hips with a little smile as she pointed at two other reems down the row. I walked over and grabbed both before jumping down, landing softly and holding out the reems to the woman who walked over, mouth forming the word how, though no sound escaped her lips.

"I'm part spider." I said with a shrug as I glanced around. "Do you know where I might find something good for training clothes?"

The woman nodded, holding the reems against her body with one arm tight walking down the aisle and pointing me at a section of fabric on the second row. She looked at me expectantly, curiosity buzzing as I suppose she wanted to see me do that trick again. I let out a breath as I walked up the wall a little bit, looked through the colors and picked out some dark blue fabric as well as some red before jumping down again with my reems. I paused before glancing around.

"Where do they keep thread around here?"

The woman glanced at me before letting out a huff, making a decision as she led me through the store to find some matching thread for my cloth. She didn't speak at all as we walked around, I wasn't sure she could, but I was well versed in nonverbal communication. I didn't know the local sign language, but I had watched Kotori sometimes before she was unsealed and the woman was expressive in her own way and seemed to appreciate that I didn't have much trouble understanding most of what she tried to say. This woman visited the store often, because she seemed to know her way around the place well enough. I got a cheap pattern set for standard designs and when we waited in line I asked her about how much she suggest I get cut. She suggested twice the design, in case I screw up. Which was fair, I usually didn't make my own clothes. Though she did so silently, we got our bags. I didn't pay for my stuff and instead had them hold it at the register as I walked out with her.

"Thanks, I have to ask, did you make that outfit?"

She nodded before making a gesture to the surrounding stores, did the scissor motion before moving her hand on top of her head and gesturing up. Which I could guess from her emotions and irritation that the stores around here were made for taller people.

"I ran into the same problem, plus custom lets you control the material. A lot of the clothes around here are really cheaply made."

She shrugged her shoulders as she made a tearing motion with her hands before rubbing her thumb and forefinger together.

"Yeah, I suppose people get what they pay for. Or put effort into. I suppose there aren't any tailor shops in the mall." I replied.

She shook her head again but paused and pointed down at her shoes.

"Oh, they have a cobbler?"

She nodded again before pointing down mall corridor towards the map.

"Oh, do you need to be somewhere?"

She smiled, interest and curiosity mixing as she made the gesture of holding a cone and licking air.

"Ice cream."

I went over the thought in my head. How long had it been since I had ice cream? Well, that wasn't actually a question, it was the same length of time I had been without bacon. They didn't have any in the cafeteria coolers. I scratched my head and pulled out my scroll, making a quick inquiry.

Oobleck messaged back just as quickly and I smiled at the response.

"Well, I just need to get some money real quick, but would you mind if I came with? I, it's been a while since I've had ice cream, I don't really know what good flavors they have."

There was pity from the woman as well as interest and curiosity as she smiled at me and nodded, pointing down at the food court.

* * *

 **Busy, busy this week. Missed my Sugar Plums update, probably have something next week.**

 **Reviews would be nice.**


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"And then he tipped over into the craps table. All the while, Danny just runs up and jumps into my hands like nothing happened." I said as I made an exaggerated motion with my ice cream cone.

The small woman shook lightly, amusement radiating off her. No sound escaped, but she was smiling as she took another bite of strawberry from her half empty bowl. We sat in the small ice cream shop on brightly colored vinyl cushions.

"Yeah, I swear to god, that cat's smarter than half the people I deal with most of the time."

She rolled her eyes at that, gesturing around before knocking a fist on her temple lightly.

"True, people can be pretty thick. Seems strange really, how few people really think about the world around them."

I said before taking a bite of the fudge dipped cone, god it was so good. Chocolate wasn't common in Kirigakure, in fact, only Konoha, as a central trading hub, could afford to import cocoa and produce chocolate. Nevermind ice cream, the Land of Water had milk, but sugar was harder to come by. Most sweetener used in Land of Water was actually honey produced by the Sumire family, and that was harder to get after their compound was destroyed in the war.

"I mean, people assume so much. I can assume Danny did all that by accident, or that it was coincidence, or a hundred million other things but I mean, really. How much coincidence can actually happen in this world and how much can be planned?"

I paused, looking at her for a moment.

"Hey, you ain't out here to look innocent and get close to me, are you?"

I said it jokingly and the woman did a mock expression of astonishment as she looked around, hands on her chest. She radiated cheer about the joke, no suspicion or being put off at the jab.

I let out a breath as I took another bite.

"Do you, like, live around here or something?"

She tilted her hand back and forth in a motion that meant kind of before doing the steering wheel motion with her hands.

"Had to commute? Me too."

Looking at my scrolln I saw it was getting later in the day, not really late, the mall was still open, but the sun was probably going to set soon.

"And I probably actually have to leave soon, if I can drag my escort from the bookstore."

Oobleck hadn't even looked up from the book after I arrived to get the card this all was supposed to go on, nor did he do more than nod and agree when I asked if I could grab some ice cream. He also agreed to me seeing if I could acquire a flamethrower, which meant he hadn't actually been listening, or if he had didn't see anything wrong with me having a flamethrower, both could be true.

She made a gesture that said what can you do before she started more on her ice cream. I looked at the scroll I had and went down the sites she suggested on the notes section of my phone.

"Thanks for the help, by the way. I hadn't really done this before."

She waved her gloved hand like it was no problem, though that did remind me of something I didn't think about.

"By the way, what's your name? My name is Ume."

She paused as she held up her spoon and pointed it down at the bowl.

I looked at her and then the bowl.

"Ice cream?"

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. Pointing at the bowl again.

"Sundai?" I replied.

She shook again before pointing at the flavors, one at a time, and pushing her hands together.

"Strawberry, vanilla, cho... oh, Neopolitan?"

I finally got, the word not one commonly used, but fitting. In fact, considering her color scheme, I should have known. A lot of people at Beacon had outfit color schemes that matched their color based names. I mean, I knew the history behind it, the color revolution was covered in Oobleck's class' textbook and honestly I couldn't think it was that strange. Most people I knew had names with double, or even triple meanings attached to them, and heck, my name meant plum.

She clapped before congratulating herself with another spoonful of ice cream.

"Alright, well, it was nice meeting you, I guess I'll see you around then." I paused, looking at my scroll. "These things can text, right?"

She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well, I figured it would be silly to ask you to call me, since it's not like I could see you… Why are you looking at me like that?"

Her head had tilted as she picked up my scroll herself, punched in the number and called her own and slid it back. Her scroll buzzed and she clicked to answer. I saw immediately that instead of defaulting to a voice call it was showing a video of her waving into it.

"Oh, it defaults to video calls." I picked up, turning it a little bit. "Seems like a waste of energy honestly, wouldn't it use less battery to do just voice?"

She shrugged her shoulders before ending the call.

"Oh well, texts would be faster anyway."

Nevermind I couldn't sense the emotions associated with her signs over the scroll network. It helped tremendously in figuring out her less direct signs.

I waved goodbye before heading out to get Oobleck. It took a little bit of time to drag Oobleck from the bookstore before we started walking out of the mall. The two of us headed to a hardware store to grab the joints for the bunkbeds before going to a general store for me to get some shampoo and stuff to put in my room. That took only about twenty minutes, which was rather amazing in and of itself, really.

You never think about how convenient something like bottle shampoo and general stores are until you go without. I mean, I made my own shampoo and soap, but it wasn't because I was picky. It was just easier to get in large quantities, especially if you wanted it to be scentless. Nevermind that shinobi have to stay clean. Even when you're on a mission you have to constantly do upkeep because you don't want an enemy to discover you because you had body odor. Even little contraptions like tiny nail clippers, tweezers, toothpaste or floss were hard to find. Metalwork just wasn't advanced enough to make such things en masse in the Land of Water. Most of that metal had to be imported, then processed and that was expensive, so it was reserved for things like tools and weapons instead. I honestly think tonight would be the first time in a long time that I didn't clean my fingernails with a senbon needle.

Once that was done Oobleck and I headed back to the laundromat and I resealed all the clean clothing before we headed back on a bullhead. There were a couple of questions and weird looks from the staff, but nothing too bad. I couldn't tell how surprised they actually were, as their auras weren't unlocked, but they didn't seem too shocked. They did work at a super powered college, after all.

* * *

The floor was pretty empty as night fell on Beacon. Some of the teams had gone into the city to explore the kingdom surrounding their home, hopefully, for the next four years. Some of the teams were in the common room hanging out or chatting, others were at the library doing homework or other recreational activities while others were just hanging out in their rooms with their teams, getting used to the new people they were expected to spend the rest of their hunting careers with if they made it through.

Team CRDL were not spending time bonding. They had no need after all, the four boys had known each other for years, as all four of them had attended the same prep school and had come from the same town. It hadn't been hard for the four boys to find each other during the initiation, since they had been in the same launch group and their team had formed. The four of them were already very comfortable with each other, familiar with their fighting styles as well as the group hierarchy, which was why the four of them didn't question their leader Cardin as he peered out into the hallway.

At least not out loud.

Cardin Winchester was a lot of things, he was a large boy, charismatic, strong and one of the top students in his year at his previous hunter school. Such things meant he was not one who would be easily dismissed, yet just that had happened this morning. If it was just a casual slight, it wouldn't have been as bad, but that shrimp of an auditor had done so in front of his entire floor.

That couldn't stand, he wouldn't let it stand.

His scroll buzzed and he hit the device. Russel appeared on the screen a moment later.

"Is she coming?"

"Yeah, I saw her going up the stairs. You ready?"

Cardin nodded before going down the hallway. There Sky and Dove quickly set up the trap. It was a simple enough thing, a board painted to match the hall carpet put on top of some marbles. It wasn't that hard to put together, since the workshop had plenty of supplies and the marbles they had themselves. They quickly returned to the room, two of them holding out their scrolls to record it. It took a few minutes, but soon the door to the stairwell opened and there was the red headed auditor, who was flicking through her notebook as she headed towards the first door. Sky had to hold back a snicker as the small girl set her first foot on the board, then the second and then…

Nothing. She walked forward even as both feet hit the board before she went to the first door and knocked on it. Cardin looked down at the two of them, a look of anger on his face. Why hadn't that worked? Even on a carpeted floor the change in weight on the surface should have made her fall flat on her butt, and yet...

The redhead didn't pay them any heed as she found the first door unoccupied before pausing to write a note, which she slipped under the door before moving across the hall.

In a coarse whisper Cardin said:

"Come on"

He started to search the room for a moment before he found what he was looking for. The bat was in one of the closets. While less subtle, the girl seemed distracted enough as she moved down the hallway. He wasn't going to let her just get away with this, no way.

As he got to the hallway he found that she was only a door down from them at this point. Looking down at the notebook, she continued her stride and Cardin tried to roll the bat out into the hallway and… she stepped over it. It wasn't even a deliberate step, it just seemed that her stride, however short it was, naturally went over it as the bat rolled down the hallway.

Was it luck or was she baiting him somehow? It didn't matter either way, his patience on this was already running out as he reached down to throw a ball that had been with the bat only to freeze when his eyes met hers for a moment and he saw. Nothing, no recognition, no acknowledgement, the eyes looked at him and through him without a moment's pause before she ignored his team's door completely and headed down the hallway.

No way, no freaking way. She was baiting him. There was no way she didn't know he was there. Leaning out, he bodily threw the ball at her head and it…

She seemed to turn lightly and it just brushed past her hair as it thumped down the hallway. She didn't even acknowledge it as she knocked on the door to no answer before writing a note and continuing down.

"Hey!"

Cardin yelled at her, bursting into the hallway. There was no response as she knocked on the next door, seeming not to hear him. He stepped up behind her and attempted to grab her shoulder, but she turned just out of his grip. This time talking aloud.

"I suppose I'll have to visit later, no one seems to be on this floor." Before stowing her notebook and heading towards the stairs.

That was the last straw. There was no way he would just be ignored like that, there was no way he was going to…

Weightlessness hit his body as his foot hit something slick on the floor and he fell back, his anger clouding his judgement as his foot hit and slid on the very ball he'd thrown at her that had bounced back down the hallway. Cardin's body hit the ground with a solid twack that resounded throughout the hallway. His aura took the damage, but he was half stunned at the sudden fall. When he managed to push himself to look at his surroundings he noticed that the girl had already left the floor, disappearing into the stairwell. His anger still raging, he turned to his other two teammates.

"Why didn't yo…"

"Hey, did you guys…"

Twack!

All three of them turned their heads immediately to see Russel, who had come from the other stairwell and somehow managed to trip the marble trap the red headed auditor just blatantly ignored.

Cardin was steaming as he glared at his team, then the opposite stairwell. This wasn't over.

* * *

 **Short chapter, been busy. Reviews would be nice, thank you.**


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Well, this was a bit of a bust.

I sat at the desk in the school's weapon workshop, holding up the white monstrosity I'd managed to put together after a full morning's work. It was supposed to be a simple t-shirt, and it looked at me, mocking my efforts. Several pins were still sticking out of the piece as I went over my mistakes.

Not buying a pair of sewing scissors being the first of them. The not clean cuts in the thick fabric made a jagged mess of the neat pattern.

Not buying a sewing machine was the other problem, or at least not testing it. There was a sewing machine at the school, it had been in the laundry room during the destruction but managed to be salvaged because it was far enough away from the machine to not take any obvious damage. It still worked, but something in the damn thing was shaky as hell, even shakier than the heavy sewing table I was using back at home. Something had to be loose in this damn thing. I also had to stop several times because I forgot to string the bobbin, sew over needles.

I'd made simple things at home before, but this was a different set up. The fabric was unwieldy and the needles I used worse quality than I was used to as well. I guess that's what I got for assuming it would be the same.

Leaning back, I took a picture of my mess and sent it off to Miss Neopolitan. She'd probably get a laugh from it at least as I got up from the work desk. Rubbing my eyes, I leaned back to find I wasn't actually alone in the workshop.

Sitting at a table cleaning the barrel of her gun was Ruby Rose. Huh, I hadn't noticed her there, but then I was pretty engrossed in my own thing. I walked up behind her, a little curious as I took a look at her weapon. It was folded up now, but I knew that wasn't how big it could be. Honestly, her weapon was a curiosity in of itself. It was a bit like a swiss army knife, it certainly didn't look like it could actually unfold into the large scythe form she uses it as, but at the same time it was pretty thick and looked weighty on the table.

"It's really an interesting weapon."

Ruby shot out of her chair at the sound of my voice. She landed on the ground in a heap, her red hood flying up and going over her head. I held back my laughter, as I couldn't fault her extreme reaction. I'd done the same thing once or twice.

The black haired girl pulled the red fabric off her eyes and looked up at me.

"Oh, Ume. I didn't see you there."

"Well, I didn't see you come in." I said, reaching down with my right hand.

Ruby grabbed it and I helped pull her up, she paused to dust off her skirt before glancing around.

"Really, where were you?"

"Oh, I was in the corner doing some sewing." I replied.

"You sew?" She asked, glancing over towards the machine.

"Not really, not yet. I see you were cleaning your, scythe, right?" I glanced down at the weapon. "How does it fit into such a compact form like that?"

She looked at the weapon, beaming as fondness and interest washed off of her.

"The blade retracts into itself at an angle so when it's folded up it's flush, but when it's folded out it lines up to a single blade. It took forever to figure out the exact way to make the locking mechanism line-up without causing the blades to crash into each other, but I had my Uncle Qrow help me with the math."

I blinked for a moment, looking at the weapon and then her.

"Wait, you built that?"

"Of course!" She picked up the weapon, holding it close to her face. "Crescent Rose is my baby, I spent years designing, prototyping and testing materials before I could finally make the final product. But it was worth it."

"That seems like a lot of work for a scythe." I said. "Even a foldable one."

"Crescent Rose isn't just a scythe, he's also a high impact customizable sniper rifle with semi-automatic capabilities and high bullet feed mags." She picked it up and with a flick of her wrist unfolded it out to a form that she held out in front of her with a scope. "I can shoot a nevermore out of the sky from a kilometer and a half away."

That was impressive, both the capabilities and that she designed the weapon itself. I saw the others had gun forms to their weapons, much like Professor Port did, though I didn't think any of them had a sniper rifle on them.

"Wait, if you had a sniper rifle, why did you run straight at the deathstalker in scythe form instead of just sniping it's eye from a distance?"

The confidence and glow she got from talking about her weapon instantly faded as embarrassment set in. She actually pulled the weapon in and, looking down, she shuffled her booted feet.

"You didn't think of that at the time, did you?" I said, a little bemused.

"I mean, at the time it seemed like the best way to show off Crescent Rose's cutting potential." She pulled the weapon close to her chest.

"It also" She whispered. "Looks cooler in scythe form."

I let out a breath through my nose.

"If you have to choose between what's practical and what looks cooler, what do you think you should actually do?"

"I know, my uncle says I try to use fancy moves too much too. But the scythe form really is more versatile for handling multiple opponents, cause I can go BA-POW, and WOOSH and cut them to bits!"

She swung wide and her elbow scattered some tools that clanged on the floor.

"Oh, oops."

I let out a snort as I leaned down and started to gather the tools.

"Have to watch the BA-POW in the workshops, huh."

She set Crescent Rose down before helping to gather the tools.

"I guess, but my baby's razor sharp and my uncle helped me so I could use it effectively. Though it gets some strange looks sometimes, it's a great weapon even though people like some more traditional ones. Given, you use a classic design don't you?"

"A classic?" I said, glancing at her as I set the tools aside.

"Your sword, the one you used on the deathstalker. Not many people use classics anymore, not like you or Jaune." She replied as she sat down, enthralled and bouncing. "But I've seen lots of different weapons since I got here. Like Pyrrha's, did you see her spear and shield? It's definitely a transforming weapon, though we only saw the one form in combat. I can't wait to watch her fight again."

"Why don't you just ask her if you could see her weapon?" I said, leaning against the table. Sitting down Ruby wasn't much taller than me.

"You think she'd let me?" She looked at me with a starry gaze. "I mean, she's a champion fighter, her weapon must be top grade I bet it has at least three forms."

She was... well, that would explain how she was so experienced.

"I think she would, if you asked. Pyrrha's really nice and I don't think she'd mind talking to you about it, especially since you have a pretty impressive weapon yourself."

Well, it at least looked impressive, but it hadn't broken yet.

"Really?! Then I'll definitely ask."

She spun a little in her chair before glancing at me. Curiosity started to seep off of her for a few moments before she looked again. After the third glance on her spin around I let out a sigh.

"Okay, what is it?" I said.

"I what do you mean?" She asked.

"What do you want to ask?" I said, crossing my arms. "Cause you did a triple take like you don't know what to say, but I can tell you're curious."

She looked down, a little more nervous this time, before glancing down.

"Well, actually, I wanted to ask, if maybe, you'd show me your swords?"

"Okay sur…. Wait, swords? How do you know I have more than one?" I said as I reached into my sleeve.

"Well, you see the other night when you fell asleep at dinner... Well, I carried you back and Oobleck unclicked your, well, your.."

She looked down at my left arm and I blinked down at it.

"Oh, okay, well, that's fine." I said, reaching over. "Yeah, you can look at it. I mean, if you already know it's there, not much point in hiding it."

Taking my left hand out of my sleeve I paused before grabbing a chair and pulling up to the desk as well since I might as well be sitting for this. After clicking the mechanism on my false arm I removed the prosthesis with a twist and set it on the table, revealing the sword attached to the stump. It was comparable to my wakizashi, a thin and short blade that came to a sharper, more narrow edge, like a triangle. It was one of a set of many blades, but the former owner hadn't minded at the time when I'd taken it since it had already been broken off its hilt. It wasn't very long, but that wasn't what mattered. It was good metal and, more importantly, very naturally conductive.

"Wow, it looked really sharp." She picked up my prosthetic "Oh you have a sheath in here, though it has a lot of, are those wires? They're really thin. Does it run on electricity? Where is the battery?"

"It doesn't run on electricity, it runs on aura." I took the fake arm.

"Really? That's cool, I've never heard of a prosthesis that does that before."

"Well, this is actually a prototype, one of seven made so far."

"Ooooh, really? I love looking at prototypes for new technology. How did you get it?"

"My sister makes them, well, we both make them. I designed the chassis and she makes the seals that allow the aura to be channeled into impulses that mimic the impulses and movement of the fingers."

"Wow, that sounds like quite a project."

"It's a work in progress. We've managed to simulate movement, but it's not something everybody can use. Just testing it requires a lot of fine control of your aura that most people just don't have, even with a seal to act as a mechanism to streamline the process."

I held up the blade.

"The base blade acts as a conduit to move and evenly distribute the aura, because the further the end mechanism is from chakra the less responsive it is and we have yet to be able to condense the seal enough to be put on individual fingers. Nevermind that adds some problem with simultaneous movement. So far, using a central base seal seems to be best, but Minami has been working more and more with seals that are spread out but still connected. That bit usually goes over my head."

"Aren't the seals the things you use to hold things?" Ruby asked, curious.

"Well, yes, those are storage seals. Seals can do a lot of other things. This is a medical seal, an experimental one. It's why I'm the only one allowed to use it. It has to go through a lot of testing for safety and practical purposes before it can ever be released for civilian use. But that's the eventual plan, because a lot of people have suffered injuries that have caused loss of limb. It's been a major problem for those who had a physical based profession like carpentry."

"Or hunters." Ruby added a moment later.

"Well, yes" That was always a consideration. I was a warrior, after all. "But civilians who suffer such injuries are much, much more common. They don't have aura, after all."

"That's true." She paused for a few moments as the conversation trailed off to look at the blade, then how it ran up to my stump. "Does it, does it come off?"

I shook my head.

"Not unless something has gone seriously wrong. It's welded to the bone."

Ruby actually winced at that.

"Wouldn't that…"

"Hurt, yes, at the time it did in fact hurt, a lot. But so far the results have been worth it. It doesn't hurt now." I said, picking up my arm and setting it back on. "You wanted to see my other sword, right?"

She perked up at that as I reached into my sleeve and undid the seal to pull out my wakizashi. I set it on my lap and handed it over for her to see. She ran her fingers along the wood and pulled out the sword carefully.

"It's a single edged curved sword, I didn't notice before. Those are less common than straight blades."

"It's only a slight curve, but the emphasis for it is cutting and slicing as opposed to stabbing. That would be done with a rapier or a short blade. Though I am trained in short blade style as well, so I can use it for stabbing."

"I noticed, you stabbed the deathstalker after all. How did you know that would work?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't most grimm die if you stabbed them in the eye?"

"It depends on the grimm." She said as she picked the blade, probably testing the weight. "My dad says there are as many different grimm as there are stars in the sky and the less common they are, the more scary they are, because less people know how to deal with them."

"Monsters do come in all shapes and sizes." I said, holding out my hand.

She handed back my sword, which I stored away in my sleeve. She paused to look at the fabric.

"Do you have one of those seals you use for the laundry in your sleeve?" She glanced at it.

I smiled.

"Good catch, I do. I like keeping a lot of things on my person, though I can't store my scroll away." I said, pulling up my sleeve and rolling back where I had it tied to my arm.

"Don't you have any pockets?"

My outfit had no pockets, and honestly sewing a pocket into it probably wasn't a good idea. If I ever warped it for combat, my scroll would probably go flying.

"I've never needed them before, not with, well, the stuff I have. My scroll doesn't work if it's in the space where the things I seal go."

"Oh, what about an ammo pouch?"

"I was thinking of getting a thigh pouch for it, though I couldn't find any in my size at the mall." I stood up and started to stretch.

"Which is why I was trying to learn how to sew. I've been having some trouble wit…"

There was a buzz from my scroll as I picked it out. It was a series of laughing smilies in a row.

"One moment." I said, before texting back it wasn't that bad.

She replied back with a thumb downs, before I wrote back that she can actually send me text instead of smilies. There was a pause before she sent me a shrug smiley made of keyboard signs. I rolled my eyes before texting back what I should do then. Instead of a smiley she sent me a video on how to make a plush toy.

"Who was that?" Ruby asked, curious.

"Someone I met yesterday. I asked her for tips on making clothing, she's being less than helpful. I think she means I should try making a stuffed animal to practice." I said, holding up the texts for the other girl to see.

"Oh, that sounds like fun. You ever do that before?" She glanced at the screen.

"I've done some crafts before, mostly sketching and the like, though I know I'll need to get some more supplies from Vale if I want to try this." I paused. "Unless there's some courier service that'll just take it to me here."

"It'd probably be expensive. I heard from my dad couriers are really highly paid positions, especially outside the kingdom, because of the grimm." She said.

"Really? What if you want to send someone a letter?" I said, looking down.

"Most people only send digital mail on the codex, packages and letters delivered outside the kingdom proper is done by bullhead drops in crates. Frontier settlements will have people who specifically watch out for them and collect them in a group. Though sometimes they are lost because they fall so far off course."

Well, if I need to make some cash, I could probably do something like that. Provided I could get accurate enough maps to travel from settlement to settlement.

"Well, into the city I go then. Could probably get groceries while I'm out too."

Now that I'd tasted chocolate again I was craving some more sweets, probably get some ice cream as well.

"You're going to get groceries, why don't you just go to the cafeteria?" Ruby said, a little more anxious but excited this time.

"The cafeteria isn't always open, plus it's just nice to have snacks for between classes."

Plus, if I needed to ever leave in a hurry, it would do to have a stock of food on hand.

"I see, I wonder if Weiss would let me bring snacks to our room if they're vacuum sealed." The girl pondered.

I paused as I started to open the door to the workshop.

"That reminds me, I never gave you guys the joints for your beds."

"The, oh, I think Weiss said something about that." Ruby stood up.

"Well, I guess I can do that before I leave. Really, that set up you guys have is such a hazard."

I glanced up at the door, the slight shadow in the brighter hallway betraying the presence of the bucket on the ledge. With a bit of concentration, I moved chakra through the wood and to the ledge, sticking it to where it precariously hung otherwise and opened it. It held, water and all, as we stepped out.

Ruby put away her weapon, slipping it in a holster on the back of her belt under her cloak.

"It's seemed to hold so far, but I should probably help."

"Anything that holds your weight while you sleep shouldn't be made of books and sheets, Miss Ruby." I said as she walked through the door.

I closed it carefully, making sure the bucket pushed back on the ledge as we headed down the hallway. I could feel in the distance irritation mounting, but ignored it.

* * *

It took about fifteen minutes to put the joints Ume had brought to their room onto the bottom of the bed frames. Yang held the beds in place as the small girl screwed it in with Ruby and Weiss. Apparently, there was a screw you put on the end that you tightened on the joints that held the bottom and tops together. A bit of space was lost between the bunks, but it looked a little bit more like it was supposed to be held together like that.

"Are you certain those joints won't do anything to damage the beds?" Weiss said, looking at the beds.

"It might make an indentation on the wood, but that is certainly less damage than those things collapsing in the middle of the night." Ume answered.

Yang grabbed the end of the bed and started shaking it. The conjoined beds swayed with her strength, but didn't slip out of the joints. It seemed a little more shaky than the books, but then the books would probably slip if anyone pulled out a single one.

"Seems sturdy enough, plus we got those ropes back. I bet Blake will like that she got her books back when she sees."

"Well, at least they won't suffer any more damage than they've already had." Weiss said, looking at the pile of things they removed from their previously makeshift way to convert the four beds into bunkbeds.

"Thanks for getting those joints, and for helping us install them."

"It's not a problem." Ume said absently as she took out her scroll. "I'll be heading out then. I don't know when stores close on Sunday, but I know the bullheads go back early."

"Wait, you're heading into the city by yourself?"

Weiss asked this time, her concern visible on her face. Yang smiled just a little bit at the display. Despite her cold exterior, it was fairly evident that Weiss was showing some signs of being a bit of a mother hen. She wasn't as super fussy as she was at the start, but she slipped into it sometimes.

Ume looked up at the older girl.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Well, you're a little girl, what if something happens?" Weiss responded.

Ume actually seemed surprised at this, both eyebrows raising. Was she honestly surprised at Weiss's concern?

"What in the city would be any danger to me? Did you guys secretly put a hit out on me or something?"

The three girls actually looked at each other at the situation. Yang didn't think it that strange, the girl was fairly independent when it came to anything physical and nature. She would ask for help for mental things, but anything she could do for herself, she would. It was a bit like how Ruby was when she first entered Signal, she wanted to be a super cool hunter who could do everything, but that quickly bit her in the butt when she started getting lost around the campus and had trouble making friends.

"Well, maybe one of us should go with you, if only so you don't get lost." Weiss looked at the others.

Ume actually rolled her eyes.

"You sound like the professors." She held up her scroll "I have this in case something happens, you know it's n…"

She was interrupted as Blake spoke up.

"There you are, I have something of yours."

Everyone turned to see Blake holding the black tom who was comfortably sitting in her arms. Ruby walked forward, reaching out and petting the cat.

"Ah, he likes you."

"A little too much for my taste." Blake responded.

"Ah, did Blake finally get a boyfriend? I was starting to wonder."

Yang walked forward, looking teasingly at the girl who still had her face blank. Nope, no reaction, well, she'd have to work on that.

"Is that where he'd gotten to? Well, good to know he's well taken care of."

Ume said, stepping forward and holding out her hand. Danny paused to look at her before yawning, standing up and jumping onto her arm and running up to resume his resting position on her shoulders.

"He kept knocking my pens off the desk in the library until I fed him."

Yang let out a snort, imagining the scene. She'd never owned a cat but she had friends who did.

"So you're saying he's a paw-blem?" Yang said with a smile.

The rest of her team groaned, which made Yang smile. So they didn't appreciate her humor, it didn't matter much to her. Someone would su…

Her thoughts were cut off as a splash of water hit the side of her face.

"No"

It was a sharp short command in a high voice that made her raise an eyebrow as she saw the yellow spray bottle held out in the small redhead's right hand.

"Water you do…."

Another spray hit her face as the girl squeezed the trigger.

"Negative reinforcement, I've heard it works on most intelligent animals." Ume said in a deadpan.

"Huh, I hadn't considered that." Weiss said this time. "Do you have any extra ones of those?"

"What?" Yang looked at her teammate.

"I've seen it work before. I might want one too." Blake said.

"We did use to have a spray bottle for when Yang would catch fire in the house?" Ruby said.

"Traitor! I won't see..." Another squirt hit her face and Yang turned. "That wasn't even a pun."

"Ah, sorry, this language has far too many phononyms." The small girl responded.

"You mean homophones." Weiss corrected.

"Is that the word? It has bee…"

Yang cut her off by diving at the girl to wrestle the spray bottle out of her hand. She slid to the side and Yang almost missed her completely but grabbed a handful of her clothing to reel her in, a technique she used with Ruby often, she almost got a hand on the girl and...

Was empty when the girl discarded the cloth entirely.

Yang just stared at the pink cloth in her hand as Ume jumped away and onto the top bunk, looking down at her. She wasn't naked. In fact, without the dress she looked less like a little girl and more like a costume mummy wrapped entirely in the white cloth from the neck down.

"You're covered in bandages? Is this why you're always wound u…" The spray of water hit her from the top of the bed right on top of her head. "Why you!"

Yang discarded the pink cloth immediately as she started to scramble up the bunk bed after the girl. She jumped off the other end as soon as she was nearly up and dashed around the bed to grab her discarded clothing. The other three girls more or less got out of the way as Yang jumped down and blocked the doorway. Legs closed and ready to catch, Yang wasn't going to let the girl just get through, she was getting that spray bottle, she wa….

And then Ume jumped out the open window.

"What?" Yang looked at the others as Ruby ran to the window.

"But we're on the fourth floor!" Weiss said, following her as she looked out the window and scanning the grounds.

Yang followed quickly, peering out and trying to find the small crazy girl. Who the hell jumped out a window?

"I don't see her." Yang said, trying to see if and where the girl fell.

"That's because she hasn't landed yet." Blake said, pointing out to the distance.

The three girls followed their teammate's finger to see a puffed up pink shape floating gently down onto the campus. It didn't take them long to figure out that it was Ume, hands clutching her clothing that was puffed up into a makeshift parachute. The absurdity of it all made them stare for a few moments before Weiss spoke.

"Wait, we aren't high enough up that she'd be able to catch enough air for a parachute."

"Even if we were, the fact that her clothing is large enough or flat enough to act as one is pretty weird."

They watched the girl land in the distance before she wrapped the cloth around her.

"I can't believe she jumped out of a window to avoid Yang taking her spray bottle." Ruby said.

"Yeah, it's almost as if…." Weiss trailed off. "Wait, she did that to avoid having one of us escort her!"

Yang let out a short laugh at that. "Oh wow, now that's some stubbornness."

Ruby looked out with a frown on her face. "Ah, but I wanted to get some cookies."

* * *

The city of Vale was very large. In fact, it filled almost all the surrounding space of the valley it resided in. Sitting at the top of the wall I could see that fairly clearly. I could also see the armaments set every ten meters over said wall, as well as the soldiers who paced it. They were soldiers, not huntsmen, but they had awakened auras and guns, so I knew whenever one got close and hid accordingly. The wall of Vale covered all sides of it that faced inland on the east, only stopping when it hit the ports and open waterways of the west. I had gone there earlier, if you looked out past the port you saw there were seawalls under the waves enclosing the port with markers every hundred meters to act as points for ships to enter. This was likely a precaution in place to prevent aquatic grimm from getting too close to the city without making themselves known.

Unlike Beacon, Vale was designed to be heavily fortified. I counted at least a hundred different soldiers doing routes on the top of the wall acting as a garrison against outside invaders or grimm. It was this presence that made for the areas near the wall being a bit more middle class than other areas. Moving through the city I had found a trend very quickly: the further you got from Beacon, the less maintained and more impoverished it got. Especially near the docks, where buildings were more run down and warehouses housed dozens of people who moved not with purpose but the hurried panic that if they didn't get where they were going something bad was going to happen.

The wall was the only middle ground, likely because soldiers who worked it probably lived in nearby housing for convenience's sake. But it was a clear show of the disparity between classes in the city, though no matter where you went space was at a premium. There were no full size houses, townhouses, duplexes or walk up homes in Vale. No, I'd visited and gotten fliers for lots of different housing and no matter the area it was always one or two room apartments or smaller. If you had a big family, you either had to learn to live with a small living space or move out of the city, it seemed, because there was no other way. But that was apparently the cost of safety, because that's what every single housing project advertised.

Welcome to Vale, the guarded city of Vale, the protected city of Vale, be safe behind the walls of Vale. Over and over, the same message to compensate for cramped conditions and premium space.

It may be small, but you're less likely to die. At least from the grimm.

Honestly, it made the small four shared room at Beacon seem more practical as well. It was a way to prepare any hunters who might not have lived in the city before. Lack of space here was the norm, the standard, and there was no exception. Not for the rich, not for anyone. I suppose if you were wealthy you could lease multiple apartments or multiple floors to give yourself more living space, but still, compared to the ads I saw on Codex for the frontier, it was incredibly and ridiculously expensive.

Which also accounted for the large amount of homeless in the poorer districts.

I only saw it at a glance, but away from the clean busy shopping districts were alleys full of makeshift shanty towns and people begging for scraps on almost every corner. I'd used a henge to blend in a little more as I walked, a henge of a large well muscled young man in plain clothing. While I could likely handle anybody willing to try and mug a small young girl in the bad part of town, it was less trouble to look like I was more trouble than it was worth.

Still, a large amount of homeless meant that if I ever had to hide, I could quickly and easily blend in with them. Provided I brought just a little bit of food and proved I wasn't a nuisance, I could also probably gather information from them later. Though of course I'd have to spend some time to figure out who would be reliable, as you had to always do. When trying to find new assets, the homeless were usually a well of good information.

Like where to avoid being seen from the cops, where you can hide that no one would think to look that had relatively easy access to food and water, who do you avoid if you don't want to be snitched on and the like. It was all things you'd want to know if you are in a new strange place, because you never know when things will go wrong and you'll have to disappear.

Honestly, I didn't want that sort of thing to happen, I quite liked Beacon. The people there were friendly, I had a lot of freedom to do as I wished and so far they didn't seem terribly involved in anything super shady. Two of those three things I never see at Kirigakure. But I couldn't assume I'd have such things forever.

The headmaster had extended an olive branch to me, but that didn't mean he was on my side or had my best interests at heart. It just meant for the moment he saw me more as an asset or a future potential asset than a threat. That didn't mean that wouldn't be subject to change. Trying to predict human behavior was, after all, impossible and I needed an out in case things went south.

Nevermind I still needed a way to get home, and if I did find one I wasn't entirely sure they would let me leave. I didn't think they'd imprison me to make me stay, but I wasn't sure and it was better to plan for the bad and then not need it than for things to go bad and having no plan at all.

My mapping for the night was pretty much done as I headed back to the Beacon shuttles. I'd slipped back just under the time limit but I figured I should get back the way I came down to avoid suspicion. I probably made Team RWBY a bit suspicious with the way I ditched them, but the absurdity of my escape would probably distract them more than the fact that I did. I'm pretty sure I wasn't allowed to climb up the wall and didn't need to drag a bunch of students around to question why I was doing such things, and I was sure at least one of them would have tried to stop me.

Well, mostly Weiss.

Weiss, the Schnee dust heiress (wasn't hard to figure out once I got my scroll and did a quick search) was incredibly straight laced and a bit of a know it all. She was also generally well meaning, so not too bad. She certainly was fine explaining things instead of just looking down on someone because of their ignorance and knew her stuff, especially when it came to dust. Ruby was energetic and inquisitive, a bit immature, but she was fifteen in a much safer world. She, like Weiss, wasn't dumb either, at least not about things that interested her. Her scythe was impressive, after all. Blake was a bit of a nervous girl, and though she hid it well she also cared in her own way. Someone who didn't care wouldn't take a stranger to the infirmary, wait for her to wake, then help her get a meal. Yang, I actually had to test there for a moment when I was in their room. She seemed easy going but had a temper, so I had to test what she would do when faced with a minor annoyance. To her credit, she didn't come at me with any intent to harm, just to catch me.

They, like Team JNPR, were fairly nice, not very decisive but nice. They also mostly didn't talk down to me. Always a plus, given they were the only two teams who had even an inkling of what I was capable of, which was one of the reasons I didn't object to spending time with them. Well really, Team JNPR (well, actually Nora, who dragged her team along) was the one that initiated that. They had information on me, but it didn't seem to make them fear me or act like they needed to be guarded around me, which was pretty good.

It would probably be pretty lonely here otherwise.

As I sat on the bullhead that rose over the lit city I reached down into my top where Danny slept. He purred lightly at my touch.

"It seems we're probably going to be here a while, huh."

The tom looked up at me, blinking tiredly before yawning.

"Yeah, I know. All the information I've gathered suggests that if home is out there, it's in a place I can't access without significant planning or resources, and that's just searching for it. Trying to replicate Minami's seal is out of the question, even with her notes it would be too dangerous and put too many people at risk even in an isolated location."

Letting out a sigh, I looked at my hand and did the seals absently before biting my thumb and pressing it to the seat next to me. The ink spread but popped and all that came out was smoke. Still nothing.

Danny looked up, mildly curious at the display.

"I don't know, I just don't know."

Another mystery, another problem, another wall. A tall one, at that. Well, I'd run into walls before, sometimes I'd done so so fast that it knocked me out cold, but I could still get up. There was always a way through. I couldn't see it, didn't know what would and would not work, but that didn't mean I'd stop trying. If I had that type of attitude, where would I be?

Dead probably, because that's all that ever happens when you stop trying. It might not be instant, it might take a long time, but that's all it was when you gave up.

"Still, pretty interesting place all things considered. I hope."

I leaned onto the glass pane and looked at the city. It was a flawed city, a product of overpopulation and a lack of space, but still beautiful. Down there, people lived, people tried and they tried every day to get along in the world. Just like me, just like the students of Beacon, just like the shinobi of Kirigakure.

"I hope the others can come here someday and see this, they'd be amazed."

Danny just looked at me and meowed.

* * *

 **Sorry for missing updates, been so busy, and had other stuff to post. Will get back to the normal schedule next week. This is the end of the Welcome to Beacon arc.**

 **Reviews would be nice.**


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Why are we doing this in the forest?" Jaune said as the six of them walked through the trees.

"Why shouldn't we? It's nice out, isn't it? And we wouldn't want to break anything on the campus green by fighting there." Ume answered, the girl moving in step with the group. Her pace was slightly quicker to keep up with their strides.

Pyrrha was just a few steps behind, with Jaune, as she glanced around the forest. It had been the first time she'd been back here since initiation and without the tension of finding a partner or the tension of fighting Grimm it was quite beautiful.

"But why are we going all this way for a spar? Also, what about the grimm?" Jaune said again, looking around a tad nervous.

"Professor Port cleared out the forest last night. Unless they somehow spawn faster than the books say, then it'll be a little while before they come around again." Ume replied in stride.

"He can't have gotten all of them." Jaune said. "What if they show up in the middle of a fight?"

"Then we kill them. Anyway, it's not like he isn't thorough, he subdivides the forest in sections, then makes so much noise you could wake the dead to draw any nearby grimm to him. Of course it slows down because they don't come as quickly since he's been doing it once a week since the beginning of semester."

"He has? How do you know that?" Ruby asked this time.

"Cause I went with him on the last two times." Ume responded. "After all, what better way to learn about grimm than to see a professional huntsman at work?"

"Oh, do you think he'd let us come with him if we asked?" Ruby replied.

"Probably, I think he likes having an audience." Ume replied quickly.

Ruby was bouncing at the prospect and it made Pyrrha smile as they moved through the forest. Jaune was at her side, Nora and Ren having their own one sided conversation behind them.

Pyrrha had invited Ruby to watch so when the girl had asked her about her weapon. The fact that Ume had also offered a spar meant a demonstration could happen at the same time.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. There's no harm in it, plus it is quite lovely." Pyrrha said as she looked at the trees. They were much brighter than the trees she saw in Mistral.

"You know, this place reminds me of Ansel" Jaune said. "There were woods like this out behind my house. I remember going out there sometimes with my family, usually to play hide and seek. Though we had to stay close."

"That sounds nice." Pyrrha said, because it really did.

Pyrrha didn't have any siblings growing up, nor much family. She remembered having friends to play with when she was really young, but that stopped when she started training. At the time she hadn't thought it strange, but then she had just been doing what she was told, as she always had.

"Alright, here should be good." Ume said, pulling Pyrrha out of her thoughts.

It was a small clearing, one that had recently been disturbed. The grass was crushed and scattered, there were even a few downed trees nearby. It wasn't terribly big, but it was still plenty big enough to have a spar.

"If this is good enough for you, Ume." Pyrrha stepped forward, smiling.

"This is a pretty torn up place." Jaune said.

"Well, if we're going to fight, might as well be in a place already a little wrecked." Ume said.

"But isn't there a training arena at Beacon?"

"Yeah, but I'm not technically supposed to be fighting there." Ume started scratching her nose. "Since I'm not a student, me fighting a student is a liability because I'm not covered by the school's insurance. Also" She looked down and moved a sandaled shoe across the dirt. "It's embarrassing."

Pyrrha smiled at the small girl's display of shyness. It was a bit of a surprise to see because of her normally blunt and confident demeanor, but if the girl had some anxiety fighting in front of strangers it wouldn't be unusual. She knew plenty of people who froze up when they had to do exhibition fights, Pyrrha herself used to do the same.

"It's fine, we wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable."

"Thank you."

The small redhead smiled as she walked to the clearing and reached into her sleeves to get ready. Everyone else found some places to sit or lean around the clearing to watch. Most of them just meandered around, but there wasn't any one of them who wasn't curious. Ume was a bit of a curiosity among them. They all knew by this point she didn't have an awakened aura, but that didn't change the fact that the first time they met her she nearly single handedly defeated an enemy that would have taken a conjoined effort to kill. Pyrrha had no illusions about killing such a huge deathstalker by herself, which was why when her and Jaune found it in that cave she chose a tactical retreat.

Ume removed something from her sleeve and in the sunlight Pyrrha was surprised to see her holding a wooden sword.

"Aren't you going to use your weapon?"

"For a spar? Why would I use live steel in a spar?" Ume asked, curious.

Pyrrha looked down at her own weapons, the shield and sword in her hands. It was common practice among hunting schools to use their own weapons as often and frequently as possible as soon as they had them, to develop and hone their own style. But then, by the time they had their own weapons most students had their auras awakened, which struck Pyrrha now that it would be dangerous to use on Ume.

"I see. Well then, this isn't very fair, is it? Do you happen to have a spare?"

"Oh, sure."

Ume reached into her sleeve and from it brought forth another wooden sword. Ume flipped the sword in one hand and held the handle out to Pyrrha, who stored her weapon on her back to the awing and disappointment of Ruby. She picked up the sword and hefted it in her hand. It was actually pretty heavy.

"This is a bit heavier than Milo." She said, turning the sword in her hand.

"Is it? Let me see."

Ume walked forward and set her hand on the hilt. A few moments later she felt the sword become lighter and stay that way as Ume removed her hand.

"How's that?"

"Better, how did you do that?" Pyrrha said, looking at the sword.

"There's a seal in there, you can change the weight if you push aura into it or draw it out. It's more practical than making lots of swords with different weights."

Pyrrha hefted the sword and gave it an experimental swing. It was only a little longer than Milo, and close to the same weight, though there was an issue.

"I've broken wooden swords before, are you sure this will hold?"

"That's wood from the Land of Fire, the trees there are no joke." Ume said as she walked back and got into her starting position.

"I'll take your word for it." She said as she got into her own position.

The two of them just watched each other as they did. Pyrrha had both hands on her sword, while Ume stood feet spread with her sword held by her right hand at her side, her left hovering over it. The two of them just stood there watching and then, movement.

It wasn't so much movement as the small girl simply became a blur of pink and purple. It was a half moment of decision, but one Pyrrha had made numerous times. She took a step back, the sword appearing a moment later with the girl swinging upwards. Pyrrha took another step to the side as the girl followed up the swing by turning her shoulder and pushing forward to try and barrel into her. It was an odd follow up, usually people try to do another swing. Ume stopped a moment later, turning towards Pyrrha.

"You have good reflexes." She said to the older girl.

"I recognized the stance. Iaijutsu, right?" Pyrrha said, holding her sword.

"Yep, it's my primary style." She said as she switched back to a ready stance, but didn't move for several moments.

Pyrrha quickly took the invitation to move. Pyrrha didn't move as quickly as Ume had, but she didn't need to. Leg length and arm length difference meant Pyrrha could close the gap in very little time because she had a much longer reach and took longer strides. Even though she was confident, she didn't want to get too close immediately to Ume. She'd fought smaller opponents before, what they lacked in reach they generally made up for in finesse, and if you did get into their reach, especially if they were melee specialized, they would make you pay for it.

She swung in at an angle, hoping to catch the girl. The small girl backed up, swinging her sword up and parried the tip of Pyrrha's to divert it. Pyrrha didn't fight the parry, instead letting her sword go up as she spun low, bringing the sword at a height that would hit most people in the knees, but the aim was Ume's midsection.

It didn't connect, as the spot that held the other redhead was now vacant. Pyrrha only paused for a moment before bringing up her sword in an upward block as the younger girl descended onto her from above. Wood met wood, but Pyrrha was already kneeling, and standing up she was able to push the girl backwards and off of her. Ume didn't even seem perturbed, taking a chance to actually do a flip as she landed a meter or two away.

"Another tactic you've seen before?" Ume said with a little humor.

"Well, yes, but you also stand out against the foliage, so I could only assu…"

The stab came at Pyrrha's midsection, a straight simple jab, but executed quickly as a way to hit her while she spoke. It almost worked, as the cloth of the girl's baggy clothing clutched her stomach when she side stepped. Despite the speed at which she lunged, the girl changed direction as soon as it was clear the motion didn't connect and spun herself, swinging her sword at Pyrrha's head. Switching the sword to her hand, Pyrrha blocked the strike as she pivoted into the small girl. Her foot came up as she forced her weight into a kick that hit the girl in the midsection, sending her backwards. She was flung back and Pyrrha actually paused to make sure the girl was alright. She didn't need to, as Ume recovered and rolled into a low ready stance a few seconds later.

"No en garde?" She said to the small girl.

"Why? We already exchanged greetings." She said coyly, before she lunged forward.

The sword was out at her low stance and held out. Pyrrha jumped the pink blur without thinking about it, but heard the woosh and crunch of grass that was her only warning. Her hand slipped to her back Akoúo̱, which she held up as the smaller girl hit her with the force of a spinning boarbatusk. Pyrrha landed backwards, heels digging into the dirt as the girl turned midair and flew at her, sword in hand. Pyrrha stepped forward and swung her shield forward to intercept the attack, but there was nothing but air, a burst of air as the girl stopped just short of her reach and flipped off of nothing at all, creating a gust in her wake as she hit the ground, then charged forward, swiping at Pyrrha in another swing.

Wind, she was creating wind from her feet and using it to redirect herself in combat. A simple but efficient way to move around the battlefield quickly, a semblance almost definitely. It was very similar to Ruby's semblance, minus the rose petals.

Her shield deflected the strike as she moved in a swing of her own with the wooden sword, which Ume then ducked while she held the sword with her left hand. The smaller redhead striked at Pyrrha, who blocked and parried the attacks, with no solid hits in. Pyrrha was doing no better hitting the girl. She used her size and agility, avoiding hit after hit, sidestepping, doing light parries and occasionally jumping out of reach. A normal person would have been surprised, a normal person might have even been frustrated trying to pin down such a small opponent.

Pyrrha couldn't help but smile at the challenge.

It had been so long since she'd fought with a wooden sword. She remembered training with them once before her semblance manifested. It had also been a long time since she hadn't been able to solidly hit someone at all. Even those who bested her, experienced huntsman, trainers and teachers she would get a hit in. After an exchange where Ume had to jump backwards to avoid a long swing Pyrrha followed up by throwing her shield after the girl. The girl made to block, but Pyrrha moved the shield with her semblance to try and hit the girl in the midsection. Not too hard a blow, but something to wind her. The girl reacted to the change in direction, but didn't avoid it as the shield hit the back of her left hand. The sword went tumbling from the girl's hand, who actually paused to look at her hand. Pyrrha watched for a moment before glancing to see the hand was actually limp.

"Oh my goodness, I didn't mean to…"

"Oh, no it's fine." Ume said as she began unraveling the wrappings around the fingers, revealing steel instead of flesh.

Oh, that was right, she had a false hand. She had forgotten since both hands were always wrapped.

The girl looked at the hand and removed the palm, revealing a panel.

"Yeah, it's damaged. Serves me right for bringing a prototype into battle. Good test though, the reactivity is lacking, but it has a good grip at the very least. I'll need to fix it later."

"Wait, this entire time you were fighting with your prosthetic?"

The question came from Ruby, who was standing on the sidelines. Pyrrha turned towards her team plus Ruby, who were watching in attention. Honestly, she had forgotten about them.

"Of course I was, I was testing combat capability. It's, not great honestly, but better than the earlier models at least. It didn't fall off, thank goodness. Though you did crack the exterior. I'll probably need to clamp it with some wood glue."

She held up the hand, "Oh, well." before pausing and looking at Pyrrha.

"Do you want to keep going then? Probably shouldn't use my prosthesis, but it should be fine."

"Only if you want to. Will that be a problem?" Pyrrha said as she pointed at the false hand.

Pyrrha could certainly keep going, but wouldn't if there was too much risk of damage to the fake limb. It was an interesting battle so far and that was the first solid hit she'd gotten on the girl. It wasn't a victory, but it was progress.

"Nah"

Ume replaced the palm and then rewrapped her left hand. After making sure the wrappings were tight she leaned down and picked up the sword with her other hand. She put her sword to her left side in a ready position with her right hand hovering over it and smiled at Pyrrha.

"After all, I am not left-handed."

She assumed a ready position and Pyrrha readied her own shield. Ume, despite her confidence, was shaking a bit. Fatigue? Maybe, the girl was fairly young and was keeping pace regardless. Ume let out a deep breath and deepened her stance.

"*Kenjutsu: Go ten hoshi."

Then she disappeared. It wasn't like before where there was a blur of fabric, it was just…. The first blow hit her right leg, crashing against her aura. She turned, but the next attack came at her as a gust of wind. Her left hand was hit with the impact, then another gust hit her right shoulder, the next came at her back and the last one hit her head, knocking her down and forward. A moment later she saw Ume's back as she stopped in her original position. A burst of wind followed her and also, the trail. A grove had been divotted into the grass, which, if her eyes followed, showed the perfect sign of a star. Pyrrha paused for a moment to look at it before up at Ume, though up was not for long as the girl went down to both knees.

* * *

Leaning into Jaune's shoulder I rested my chin on the soft material of his hoodie as he held me on his back in a piggyback ride.

"You're pretty good at this." I said softly, my head swimming at the exertion.

"You know, if you were tired you should have called the match." Ren said as he walked alongside me.

"No way, did you see that technique? It was awesome." Nora said. "She went like WOOSH! Than she knocked Pyrrha to the ground, I don't think anyone ever did that."

"Her aura was still mostly full." Ren replied.

"You did really well." Pyrrha said. "If you used techniques like that in the beginning you would have certainly made more headway."

I shook my head.

"No, it takes a lot out of me to use those. But you deserved it, you're really good."

She was. In a straight up normal sword fight, she was in fact the better fighter, not simply because she would outlast me, but because she was genuinely skilled. Adaptable too, she wasn't as fast as Haku or as tricky as Suigetsu, but she was steadfast and didn't hesitate.

"Besides, you got a hit on me. I couldn't end the fight without getting one on you."

"So you exhausted yourself?" Jaune said. "You're just lucky Ruby was able to carry you up with the recoil of her gun."

"Well, my baby can move up to a hundred kilograms quickly with its recoil." Ruby said. "It had to, since my uncle Qrow helped with the recoil testing. He was the one that suggested using it for combat turning, since I couldn't reduce it without reducing output."

"It was a good fight. I'd love to do it again sometime."

Happiness swelled off of Pyrrha, a fighting spirit that matched her ability. Well, she probably wouldn't be so good at fighting if she didn't enjoy it.

"I wish I could have seen Pyrrha's spear in use though, your weapon looks so cool..." Ruby said.

"I could do a full demonstration inside if you want, Ruby. We still have some time before dinner."

Pyrrha offered Ruby, who started bouncing at the prospect. I smiled at the idea even from my position as Ruby started chattering more about the possibility. Damn, I was hungry, tired too. But food first. I suppose that was what prompted my stomach to protest. I could have likely hidden it if I wasn't against Jaune's back, but he could certainly sense the vibrations.

"I think Ume may need to eat first." Jaune replied with a smile.

"Good workout does work up an appetite." I replied as I leaned into his shoulders.

He was good at carrying people, he didn't jostle me much at all. Honestly, I couldn't complain much, I could barely walk, I was so tired after that match. I didn't know why, maybe I was still recovering from my fall or maybe last night was catching up to me, but I was tired.

"But you guys don't need to watch me, if you want to do weapon demonstrations you should go ahead."

"Are you certain? You look pretty tired." Pyrrha said, interest turning to concern.

God she was kind for a prize fighter. It took a bit of time for me to realize how famous she was, but the codex didn't hide such things well.

"Oh, and maybe you could do one too, with your real sword and your hand sword." Ruby piped in.

I waved a hand.

"Nah, not today, maybe later." I said as we started down the walkway to the dining hall. I….. "Turn, jump."

I said it quickly, and Jaune reacted immediately, his body turning and jumping backwards. The water balloon hit the concrete and exploded outward. The brown substance hit Jaune's shoes and splattered his pants legs.

"Ugh, what?" Jaune looked up at the window.

Nora leaned down to look.

"Looks like" She actually picked some off the ground and tasted it. "Pudding."

"Chocolate pudding, that's a new one." I said, glancing down.

"Ah man" Jaune looked at his shoes "This is gonna stain."

"I'll take care of it."

I said, climbing off his back and to the ground. I examined it and then… I grabbed Jaune and pulled him back as three more balloons came crashing down. This time we were able to avoid splash radius as they splattered. I didn't glance up, but I kept my ears peeled for the sound of falling as I looked at the colors.

"Vanilla, banana, and that looks like melted ice cream? What a waste of food." I said with a hint of disappointment in my voice.

Jaune was looking up, as were the others. Pyrrha spoke this time.

"Should we do something?"

"Nah, they're probably gone already." I said with a yawn as the smell hit me. "Great, now I'm even hungrier."

"How could that make you hungry?"

"You ever gone without sugar for a long period of time. Like, no sugar, no sweets, no snacks?" I replied to him, walking around the mess.

"Um, I…" Jaune actually looked like he was having trouble picturing it.

"I have." Pyrrha said. "I had a very... regimented diet when I was in Mistral. Honestly, I've never had much of a sweet tooth, but then, some things you just have to have."

"Yeah." I looked down. "Though I guess pudding will be in short supply."

I looked upwards, glancing for a moment before shrugging my shoulders and heading for the cafeteria. Honestly, I didn't care much what they tried, since I was pretty sure it was Team CRDL, not a single thing was anything dangerous. They weren't out to hurt me, that much was clear, so there was no point in addressing it. My stomach however, that needed to be addressed ASAP.

* * *

*Sword Technique: Five Point Star


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Jaune winced when his name was called for combat. Thankfully, this was a demonstration match, not a graded one. He'd already failed his first combat match last week, it was a relatively short fight though, and his team had said the opponent was just a really bad match for a shield user. Not that they knew anybody would be a bad matchup for him. As he walked forward, Cardin Winchester was called up as well. He stood opposite to him with a smirk on his face. Jaune, of course, knew of Cardin, if only because for the last two weeks he'd been shadowing Ume and been trying to mess with her the entire time. He hadn't succeeded but he had put a lot of effort in targeting her in particular despite the fact that she seemed paranaturally able to avoid it. Jaune had seen Ume avoid things that logically she should not have, hell he'd seen Cardin try to shove her in a locker and make it take off, only for her to appear behind him and watch the thing take off before asking where the hell they kept the fuel boosters for a rocket locker.

Which was a good question honestly.

His past failures to ruffle or even be acknowledged by the girl he was targeting aside, it didn't make him any less of a fierce competitor. The guy was huge and he wielded a mace the size of Jaune's head, which he noticed pretty quickly he held easily on his shoulder, before turning to Glynda.

"This is just a demonstration, right? Why are we using this scrub? I bet that stuck up class auditor could come take a shot at this."

"Mr. Winchester, once again Miss Ume can't participate in this class because she doesn't have an awakened aura."

"Also, I didn't sign the waiver forms, so Beacon's insurance won't cover me." Said girl piped in from the crowd, which elicited some giggles from various people.

"That is also a consideration, yes." Glynda said as she adjusted her glasses. "Anyway, unlike the previous matches, this is a tournament style match, which usually ends if someone is thrown out of the arena, their aura is in the red or if one side calls a forfeit. Any questions?"

Jaune and Cardin shook their heads. This wasn't that different from their normal matches and Jaune wasn't going to back down now. He'd been practicing on his own for the last few weeks, so he'd definitely gotten more comfortable with his sword and shield. It wasn't hard to admit to himself that he wasn't used to the weight when he started the semester, but now he had a pretty good grip on it. Also, Cardin was big, but he was one of the slower fighters. He should be able to get a few good hits on him and at least show he could. He co…

The match started and Cardin ran forward. He wasn't fast, not by hunter standards, but he moved quicker than Jaune expected him to as the mace came up and met Jaune's shield, pushing him and it back. Jaune took a few steps back as the next attack came, hitting his shoulder and spinning him slightly to the left. It was only a second later that Cardin kicked out and caught him in the stomach, pushing him back. A gasp of air escaped his lungs at the impact. His aura absorbed most of the hit, but it hurt. He leaned over, breathing heavily as Cardin looked back at him, smirking with his mace resting on his shoulders.

Jaune looked at him, his sword down while Cardin just waited. No, he wasn't done yet, he just had to get a swing in. Rushing forward, he rose his sword and did an overhead swing which Cardin sidestepped, making Jaune miss entirely before raising his mace in a circle and hitting Jaune broadside on his shield. It knocked his shield clear out of his hands and sent him rolling to the ground. He only had a few seconds, but he managed to get back up to his feet.

Gripping both hands on his sword, he rushed forward. Cardin caught the swing with the hilt of his mace, pushing upward and back. Even as Jaune's shoulders shook, it was clear that Cardin wasn't even trying that hard to hold him at bay.

"This is the part where you lose." Cardin said matter-of-factly.

"Over my dead…."

Cardin's knee connected and even through aura Jaune saw stars as he crumpled, holding his hands just over his tender area. As Jaune lay there, Cardin raised his mace for a final strike as the buzzer sounded.

As Glynda berated him, he let out a sigh as he glanced at his scroll and got back up. She talked about the Vytal festival and he internally winced. His team would definitely enter, he didn't really follow it himself, but he knew they'd want to. Letting out a sigh, he went to meet his team, who welcomed back.

As they walked out of the hall Jaune couldn't help but feel a pair of eyes on him. Turning his head he found they were not on his level. A few feet behind him was Ume, she had been looking at him and now met his eyes.

"Um, hey Ume, did you need something?"

The girl hung around with them at meals and class mostly. She was fairly snarky, but never mean spirited and sometimes weirdly intense, like right freaking now as the grey eyes met him and she spoke.

"Yes, I'm having some trouble I need someone tall to help me with. If you have a minute, I mean." She turned away, at the last moment her face growing softer and more awkward. "I don't want to impose."

Jaune smiled, immediately reminded of one of his younger sisters. Ever since he hit puberty he'd been the tallest among his sisters and thus used constantly for boosts and to get things off of high shelves.

"Of course I can." He turned to his team. "You guys go ahead, I'm sure it won't take long."

"Don't take too long." Pyrrha said with a wave as the others headed towards the cafeteria.

Jaune waved back at them as Ume grabbed onto his wrist and gave him a light tug. Well, it was probably meant to be light, but it unbalanced him for a moment before he started following behind her. She was, well, he didn't know how to say it... weirdly strong, weirdly athletic was a better way to say it. He'd seen her jump a barrel that had gone rolling after her, not flinch when Cardin pushed into her, and avoid several things thrown at her head with eerie precision. It wasn't luck, it couldn't be but really nobody else seemed to acknowledge it as strange. But it didn't seem right because was also super teensy. He knew she really didn't have an awakened aura, she didn't read as having any on their scrolls, which could pick up aura by proximity and assignment but somehow she was much stronger than her form suggested possible.

The two of them went into a nearby building and then into an empty classroom. There were a couple of them, this late in the day most classes were already out of session. This was probably one of the upper year classrooms, because he didn't recognize it. As soon as they entered, Ume closed the door and placed two pieces of paper on the side of the doors. Seals, that's what she called them. She then started moving around the room and rearranging some of the desks. A lot of the rooms were done in lecture style, but this one was smaller and had desks.

"Can you move some of those?" She addressed him again as she pointed to the desk and he walked over and picked it up immediately.

"Um, what are we doing?"

"Just need some space, is all." She said again as she pushed the desks away before walking to the center. "Can you come over here?"

Jaune walked forward, a little confused.

"Um, what does this have to do with…"

"Futon: Kūki baburu."

The air around them shifted and shimmered, forming a sphere around the two of them that encased them. Jaune blinked at the sudden happening, his head shifting left and right.

"Woah, what was that?!"

"A technique." Ume said offhandedly, like that explained anything. Weirdly everyone else seemed to take that as an answer even though it wasn't.

"It'll prevent anybody from eavesdropping by muffling our voices, as well as mess up the sound quality on recording devices."

"Recording devices, why would there be recording devi…"

"There are cameras all over the Emerald Forest. I don't see why they wouldn't also have recording stuff elsewhere. Regardless, that's not the heart of the matter."

She looked at Jaune for a moment, then walked to the side and grabbed a desk. She pulled it closer and stood on the chair before turning back towards him. They were almost eye to eye now, with Jaune still being a little bit taller.

"What are you doing here, Jaune?"

Her voice set in that tone she used whenever she wanted someone to pay attention to her. It was just short of a command and deeper than her usual pitch, not much, she had a naturally very high voice, but noticeably deeper.

"You asked me to…."

A fist appeared in his vision a second later. He rather quickly and unabashedly let out a squawk as he backpedaled so quickly he nearly fell backwards. The fist didn't hit him, in fact, it had stopped just a centimeter or so from where his face would have been.

"What the h…"

"You aren't combat trained."

It was a statement, not a question. Which hit Jaune harder than a question would have. She noticed. He looked at her, eyes searching hers as he got closer.

"I'm not sure what you're tal…."

"You have no combat reflexes, your stance is always unstable, you signal all your attacks."

She reached out, more slowly this time and grabbed his hand. Holding it up she pulled the leather glove off of his sword hand showing the red bumpy skin underneath.

"And you have fresh blisters on your hands from wielding your sword and shield. No one who has spent years training would get blisters like that."

His mouth was dry at the evidence against him, but he couldn't argue against it. How could he? She knew, she knew and…

"You haven't told anyone."

She shook her head.

"No, I haven't." She lifted her head and looked at him. "Because I want to know why you are here. Why did you come to Beacon, Jaune?"

Jaune stared at the small girl in front of him. She was strange, intense, focused, snarky and she knew his secret. Was there any point to lie about it now?

"Because this is what I want to be." He put a hand on his head and closed his eyes.

"How did you even get here if you can't fight?"

The question made him wince, but the girl didn't seem to ask it like she was accusing him.

"I got my hands on some fake transcripts and lied to get my way in from there. I just... It's my legacy. My father, my grandfather and his father before him were all warriors. They were all heroes." His head drooped as he let out the next words. "I wanted to be one too, but I was never good enough."

He spent a few moments in silence as he looked down before he heard a voice.

"Your father never trained you?"

Blinking, he looked up at the girl.

"No, he didn't. He, he probably didn't think I was good enough either."

Heaven knows he asked, he asked a million times for his father to teach him how to use a sword. But it was always a new excuse, a new line.

"You didn't try to go to the prep schools?" Ume asked.

"Of course I did! Every single one I could find, every single one rejected me, over and over, and over again. I wasn't athletic enough, or because I didn't know how to use aura, or because no one would vouch for me. I tried so hard though, I work, I worked for years just to build up some muscle so I could wield my father's sword and they still rejected me. They said I was too old, that it was too late." Jaune slumped to the ground.

"But you came here anyway, you cheated your way in."

The voice came from his side and it was only then that he noticed, as he looked up, that Ume had moved from the chair and was now directly next to him. He nearly jumped at the suddenness of it, but that didn't prepare him for what happened next. A solid slap hit him against the cheek.

"You idiot."

What he expected from the girl, he didn't know, but that was not it. He hadn't seen her insult anybody before, not even Cardin, who she ignored.

"What?"

"You heard me, you are an idiot. What the hell are you doing here? So what if you have a little muscle? You don't know how to fight! You trying to pass this school is paramount to suicide!"

He was startled for a few seconds at the sudden reversal. She hadn't seemed accusing before, now she was straight up saying that he should just leave.

"I just told you! I tried to do it the right way, the legal way, but no one would give me a chance!"

"Of course not, if you can't think to train with a sword on your own before entering a hunting academy, why would they? Did you even consider other options other than just asking your dad?"

"Combat trainers just don't drop out of the sky. Nevermind I had to steal my sword to even be able to use it. I basically ran away from home with it."

"You ran away from home! What the freaking hell Jaune, does your family know where you are right now? It's been almost a month, they must be worried sick!" Ume yelled back. "For all they know you could have gone out into the woods and a grimm had killed you!"

"It was the only way! For all this time I've been alone in this, no one ever helped me, no one even acknowledge that I could do it, they all said I should just give up."

"Well, why didn't you? You don't have to be a hunter to be a hero Jaune, you could have been a doctor, or a policeman, or a soldier or a firefighter. Are none of those heroes?"

"Of course they are, but I want, I want…" He wanted to succeed, he wanted to win on his own power because that was the only way he saw, the only way he had for a long time. "I want to be better."

"Then why in god's name haven't you asked for help!" She held up her hands gesturing around. "You're teammates with a tournament prize fighter, a competent martial artist and freaking Nora. Even if they wouldn't help you, which they would, you could have asked the teachers. I'm sure Peter would have loved to take you out to show you some tricks and he's a great huntsman."

"I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero! I am tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the trees while his friends are fighting for their lives. Don't you understand?! If I can't do this on my own, then what good am I?"

There was only a moment of silence before Ume responded.

"None at all."

It wasn't a yell, but a statement like before, and more solemn. Which surprised him more, since they had just finished yelling at each other.

"Jaune," It was lower this time. "Do you know what happens when a hero goes to fight the bad guy by themselves?"

Jaune blinked a little bit at the question, looking at Ume.

"What does that have to do wi…"

"What do you think happens, Jaune?" She said it again, not loudly, but in that solemn tone.

"They beat them, they win the day through cou…"

"WRONG!" The word was nearly a roar. "Because. THIS. IS. NOT. A. FAIRY. TALE." She paused at each word.

"No, what happens when a hero tries to win the day alone is that they DIE. Or if not, well, THIS." She held up her sleeve and the bandages flared out like they had a life of their own, showing the false arm she had there.

"Happens."

Jaune flinched at the sight, not the arm, but the stump. The thick, veiny scars that crisscrossed over the pale skin that she pushed to his eye level.

"And this."

She turned around this time. Her pink and purple dress slid down her back with the bandages that wrapped it, revealing pale skin with deep welts embedded into the flesh. It was an old wound, which, considering how young Ume was, was startling. There were so many of them too, they have had to hit her several times to do that.

"As well as this."

This time she leaned down, holding up her right wrist, which he'd never seen without bandages and now knew why. There was a burn mark, wrapped around the entire wrist, lopsided and fuzzy but discolored onto the skin like a brand.

"These are all things that happened to me, because I did exactly what you're trying to do. I tried to go at it alone, to protect people, and you know what? Every time I did so, I NEARLY died and had nothing to show for it but more scars."

Jaune stared at the girl, looking at her thoroughly for the first time since she got here. It helped her bandages were removed, they hung off her torso showing something he never noticed before.

She was covered in scars.

Burns marred her shoulder and chest, there were cuts that had healed over her arm and torso and on the one hand she did possess there were thick callouses just like the ones he was trying to develop on his own hand, but that wasn't the only unusual thing. She was muscular, muscular in a way no little girl should be, hard muscle with almost no fat anywhere. She looked not like him with his high upper body muscle, but like Ren with that thin layered muscle all over his body. None of the other girls he'd ever seen looked like that. Sure, Pyrrha and the others, they had muscle, but also curves, soft features and fat, like they were built for things other than fighting. Ume only looked like that in her clothing, which was baggy and hung off her, giving some illusion of a normal frame. But now, he saw clearly, this little girl was built for fighting, and considering how long he'd taken to build his own body, she would have had to have been building this for years.

"What in the world are you?"

The girl let out a breath before pulling her wraps over her shoulder and her long cloth dress back over her frame, which she folded to its original shape.

"Where I am from, I'm considered a hero, but that's not what I am." She let out a sigh as she sat down next to him. "I'm just a little girl, I'm a little girl who from the age of five has been forged and reforged into a weapon." She let out a soft humorless chuckle. "And I'm a good weapon."

Leaning backwards, she looked up.

"But like all weapons, by myself, I'm almost no good. I'm weak, so very weak by myself, it's a lesson I had to learn the hard way repeatedly. A lesson I don't want you to learn the same way I did."

He looked at the little girl, the odd, intense, confident little girl calling herself weak. The little girl who went toe to toe with Pyrrha Nikos, the little girl who never took any flak from anyone and avoided multiple instances of bullying with ease.

"How can you call yourself that?"

"Because compared to the monsters that live in my homeland, I am. They've nearly killed me more than once because I thought I could handle a situation by myself. I was acting like a hero, at least the hero you're trying to be. It's probably why your father didn't help you. He didn't want you to walk down this path, he might have wanted you to be safe."

"But he's a hunter." He said. "They were all warriors, and they lived, they lived a long time."

"Not without pain, not without heartbreak and not without scars." She let out a sigh. "Not all are physical either. What has your father seen that you haven't, I can't know, but I can imagine because I've seen things too. I can tell, this isn't a life of glory, or a life of fairy tales and happy endings. I know, I know oh too well that it takes a toll. It's not something I'd wish on anyone."

He stared, looking at the girl, and in her silence she sounded older, older than she looked, older than anyone he'd ever met at Beacon. She sounded like his father, when they sometimes spoke, when he tried to dissuade Jaune from this path. So many times, Jaune never believed him when he said it would be hard, because he had always made it seem so easy. He always came back, always whole and healthy, always there for his mom, for him and his sisters. Jaune knew that he was tired sometimes, that sometimes he'd need to be alone for a while, but was it something different, did he just never notice? His father had always seemed invincible, the type of person who would never back down, who would always come on top and despite that was still kind, still caring, always there for everybody. It was why Jaune admired him so much, why Jaune wanted to be a hunter, to be like him. But was that a mask?

He didn't know, he'd never asked.

"You know what hurts Jaune, hurts more than anything in the world, hurts so much that you want to tear out your eyes out because it would hurt less than feeling it?" Ume spoke again.

"What?"

"Seeing someone you love get hurt, especially if you could have prevented it." She slumped forward.

"I, I know, it's why I have to get stronger, so I can protect them. My team, my friends, they deserve, they deserve better than what I can give them." Leaning forward, he put a hand on his face, the guilt gnawing at his chest at what he had done, at how he had forced his way into Beacon, and now they were at risk. "Which is why, I have to make myself stronger, not, not lean on them. They don't need to worry about me."

"But Jaune, it's too late, because they will worry about you, always." Ume looked at him with a sad smile. "Since they already love you, as you said, they're your friends."

"I,"

He leaned down and thought of his team, of all the time they spent together. Nora laughing and telling outrageous stories, pulling everyone in for hugs and dragging them around on her whims. Ren's quiet reassuring presence, giving head nods and simple solidarity of being the other male on his team even when he didn't speak aloud and then there was Pyrrha.

Jaune didn't think he could have gotten a better partner than Pyrrha. She was strong, intelligent and beautiful, but more than that she was kind, patient and caring. Even when he messed up or he needed help she was always there, always willing to help, always smiling that bright smile she had no matter what they did together. Picturing her in pain because he messed up made him wince.

"I know." He leaned down.

"So you know that every time you fail, every time you struggle, every time you're hurt or in pain, it hurts them too. They're your friends and they want you to succeed just as much as you want them to succeed. What do you think they'd think if they found out you're trying to do this all alone?"

Jaune let out a breath.

"But they're strong, all three of them are great hunters and huntresses."

"You don't think they got that way by themselves, do you?" Ume said. "Because I severely doubt it. They had to be trained by someone. If Pyrrha really is a champion she probably had several different trainers help her refine her style. The type of martial arts Ren uses has to be practiced and refined with guidance over years and using a hammer like Nora would require the same. It's the same with team RWBY, the same for all the teams in Beacon. I'm pretty sure most the people here didn't just teach themselves how to fight."

Jaune thought about it, and that seemed pretty likely. Getting into Beacon was hard, you had to either do a physical test or present transcripts from a hunting school where they got trained. Though that made him wonder.

"Who trained you?"

"Several people, I went to a school like Beacon or one of the prep schools. Though they started much younger and only did four year training before we went into field work. That was four years ago, though."

Jaune paused to look at Ume.

"You've been doing field work for four years?"

"Yeah, but it's not relevant right now. The question right now is, what are you going to do?"

She looked at him, her grey eyes meeting his. It was a steady and unwavering gaze.

"I," He looked down. "I'm not sure. I need to get better, but I don't want to burden anybody. This is all on me."

"Wrong. It's on you, and your team. It's their burden too." She replied.

Jaune let out a breath and nodded. This conversation had been tiring, gosh, he hadn't expected to get into a shouting match with Ume and now, now this.

"I think I need some time to think about that, some time to process it."

"Yeah, probably. You also need to tell them."

"What?!" Jaune turned his head towards her. "But I, but they…"

"They're your friends, and you're lying to them, Jaune."

The words were final and concise, and it made Jaune's gut churn when he thought about it. Yeah, yeah he was. He never wanted to lie, but in the end that's the only way he got here.

"I, I know, but what will they think of me if I tell them? They'll be disappointed."

"Maybe a little bit, but not as much as if they found out from someone else, Jaune. You can't just bury this, and the longer you wait, the worse it'll get."

He looked at her, a little wary.

"You, you wouldn't tell them, would you?"

"No, that's your job and I won't hold this over your head to do that." She said it with enough confidence that he believed her. "However, I will hold this over your head for one other thing."

"What?" Jaune said, a little fearful.

"Call your parents, tonight." She said it so simply, and he nearly choked.

"My, my parents! But, bu…"

"This is non-negotiable, Jaune. They must be worried sick about you. Have you contacted them at all since you left?" She said as a rebuttal.

"Of course not, if they found out I was at Beacon they'd come get me immediately. They'd ruin everything."

"Then don't tell them you're at Beacon. You don't have to tell them what you've done, but for god's sakes it's probably killing them that they don't know that you're safe. Nevermind what it's probably doing to the rest of your family."

Jaune felt a stone hit his stomach when she said that. His sisters, his seven sisters who he adored and in turn adored him back. Even when his parents berated his dreams he did have his sisters who would play hunter with him, who would listen even when his parents wouldn't, who were everything he needed in the world when he was picked on at school. He had been so busy at school trying to keep up and ahead he hadn't even thought of them. He was still a little mad at his parents, mad that they didn't support him in his dream, but he never thought about what his decision might have done to them.

They would be worried and he made it that way, because no contact with his parents also meant no contact with them. He hadn't even left a note when he left.

"I, you're right, I shouldn't have made them worry like that." He let out a sigh. "But when should I tell them? My team... I, I've never had a team of people rely on me like this before. I'm supposed to be the leader, how would they take this?"

"I don't know, Jaune, but the sooner you do this, the better." She stood up from her sitting position. "It's easier to hide than it is to confront a problem, so much easier to ignore it or pretend it's not there. But doing so will only make it grow and fester, this has the potential to break your team, Jaune, if you let it get out of hand."

"But what if…."

A hand reached out and clamped itself over Jaune's mouth.

"Stop, you're over-analyzing this when you shouldn't. This isn't an issue with multiple facets Jaune, this is in fact really simple. Yes and no, yes they can accept you, or no they cannot. But knowing what you know about your team, do you think that this is the type of thing they'll hold against you?"

She removed his hand and he let out a sigh.

"No, but that's what's worse. They deserve better."

"Then be better Jaune, just not by yourself." She held out a hand to him. "Being strong isn't about handling situations all by yourself, Jaune. No, real strength comes from knowing when to ask for help and knowing when to accept it. You have so many people around you who want you to succeed now Jaune, you're not just doing this by yourself anymore."

He reached out and took her hand. With strength that her small frame shouldn't have she pulled him to his feet.

"But I'm already dragging them down. They have their own training to think about."

"Well, if you really need it, I could probably give you some tips. We both use swords and nevermind you've already got a skill all your own."

"What?"

"Jaune how many exits are in this room?" She glanced around.

"Um, four, the hallway door, two windows to to the ground floor and that wall opens up to make the room bigger." He looked at her and she was smiling.

"Most people would have only said one, the door. Though actually there's five, though only really for me because you wouldn't fit in the vent."

"What does that have to do with me?" He said.

"How many ways can you leave this building from the hallway?" She said again.

"Six, front door, back door, fire doors on each side, back window and the stairs to the roof, why?" He replied.

Ume laughed. "Why do you know that?"

"Well umm," He scratched his head. "I used to be bullied, a lot, so whenever I entered a new building I would memorize the fire maps in case I needed a place to hide or get away."

"Uh huh, how do you avoid getting jumped by a group?" She said again.

"You go to a shopping center where they have police nearby or you stick in a group yourself." He replied. "But that's just ways to avoid trouble. Everyone knows that."

Ume laughed again.

"Haha, no. In fact, I don't think most people here would even consider running away from a confrontation. After all, they were all trained warriors."

They wouldn't? Well, he guessed they probably wouldn't. He remembered Ruby telling him how she beat up a bunch of thugs robbing a dust shop. He'd never even consider doing that, it sounded way too scary. Maybe he'd grab the owner and help them get out the back, but actually fighting when you were outnumbered wasn't a good idea.

"So my skill is that I'm a coward."

"No, your skill is that you'd even consider a tactical retreat in a situation that didn't fit a direct confrontation. It isn't just that, you pay attention to your environment and look for advantages it gives you because you know you're weak. It's a great mindset for a tactician because anticipating what could go wrong and trying to make advantages is how someone wins battles."

"It, it is?"

"Yeah, that's probably why you were made the leader of your group. You look for multiple angles and solutions instead of fight fight fight. It's impressive in its own right."

"I never thought of that." He looked around the room, then the window, which Ume was walking towards and opening and putting a foot out of. "Wait, you're actually leaving out the window?"

"Um, yeah I am, otherwise we'd both be ambushed by Team CRDL, who are all waiting in the hallway." She said as she jumped out.

With her so far away the air was less shimmery and the bubble they were talking in was gone.

"How do you know that?"

"Cause they're predictable." Ume said.

"Oh." He said as he followed her, one leg going over the ledge and onto the ground. Ume reached over and closed the window behind them, there was a slight click as the locking mechanism went back into place.

"So, what now?"

"Food, I'm starving and you should probably tell them after that. Such things are easier to digest on a full stomach." She said.

"But what should I do about, about training."

"Train with your team Jaune, train with Pyrrha, I'm sure she'd be fine with it. She's a really good fighter, and if you want I can help too." She replied as they walked onto the path by the building.

"Why would you do that?" He said.

"I don't have much else to do honestly, and it could be fun. I probably don't look it, but I've received training in battle, mission, group and siege tactics. You are your team's leader, so it probably wouldn't be too bad to work on what you've got."

"How would we do that?" He walked behind her. "I mean, I can't exactly fight you, you'd just crush me."

"Tactics is about more than one on one fighting, though of course we can cover that too. But we can cover that later." She pulled out her scroll. "Also, I wouldn't just crush you in a fight. If you're smart you could probably out last me."

"Really?" He said.

"You have a lot of aura, and also armor and a shield. So yeah, probably. But we can work on that later. Onto food!" She moved forward, hand up as they headed towards the cafeteria.

Jaune watched the girl as she walked. It was impressive the range of emotions they just went through. Exhausting too, honestly, he wanted to sleep more than he wanted to eat. Or just really think. His stomach was churning with the task ahead of him. It sounded simple enough, but then simple things were so hard, could he really come clean to his team? Well, he had to, didn't he? They deserved better than being lied to. Then there was his family, wow, it really had been a whole month. He remembered his mom panic calling him when he'd been out for a few hours too late. He wondered how many times they had tried to call him. He had gotten a new scroll when he left, a Beacon scroll with a different number, but he still had theirs. He'd had it loaded into his scroll when he left. He, he should do it tonight. He'd spent so much time worrying about making himself stronger by himself he'd forgotten everyone else around him, and then there was Ume.

He looked at the girl, she'd pulled her wraps back around her shoulder and arms at some point in the conversation, the pink cloth dress she had tied around her, baggy fabric hiding her warrior's frame. What in the world had she been through to get those scars? It didn't even sound like one incident, but several. How could a little girl who'd been through so much look so, well, not normal, but confident. He didn't know, but then, she had sounded so broken when she spoke about being a hero, about being a weapon. Was that her, or was this her? Was this just an act she put on for others, or herself? He didn't know, but he did know she was different. Way more different than he originally thought. It was hard to see her as just another little girl, no, they were worlds apart, not just in skill, but in experience. It was, well, it was terrifying and she said now she was going to help him.

What in the world had he gotten himself into?

* * *

 **You know, they never really explain the build up or process of Jaune getting into Beacon, hell they don't explain ANYTHING really about Jaune's past except in passing. Honestly I never thought Jaune just one day decided to fake his records to get into Beacon, he's a pretty straight lace guy all things considered. No, he seems the type that would try to do things the right way, the heroic way, and thus the legal way. Never mind that he is built for a dude without combat training, while genetics play a role I doubt he would just randomly get a muscular frame like he has being a normal teenager all the time.**

 **Of course, Jaune will always be more normal than the average Beacon student, but then he's the audience surrogate. He's designed to question his environment, even when no one else does which is of course why he notices how off Ume is more than anything.**

 **Also, he ran away from home, that is never discussed, ever.**


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Nora sat at the table she had claimed while Ren, Pyrrha and Team RWBY got food from the cafeteria line. They all knew it was the easiest way to do it, Nora was a lot of things, but she was good at claiming spaces since she could keep others at bay through sheer force of personality. Ren had learned long ago it was just easier to go with whatever she was saying or doing with few exceptions, especially since it was rarely anything too harmful. It was also useful when dealing with the evening dinner rush. While teams often showered or waited after fighting to get food, most immediately headed towards the cafeteria after the fighting class to refuel, meaning around this time there were usually a lot of students. He knew personally Nora would never go too long after combat without eating something, anything really, which was a habit she picked up from their travels. Her willingness to try anything had led to some fortunate and unfortunate discoveries about the edibility of the local flora and fauna of the kingdoms. Though by this point she had a caste iron stomach that was also a near bottomless pit.

Still, with the exception of Jaune, they hadn't actually fought this last class period, as it was more about rules, conduct and etiquette they were supposed to use for the Vytal festival ending with the demonstration that went... less than adequately.

Ren pulled two wrapped sandwiches onto two plates. He wasn't really hungry, but that didn't matter because if he didn't eat it, Nora would. He also grabbed a cup of water and a mug to get some coffee. It was one of the few things he drank that Nora wouldn't touch, well, at least not after she (and by extension he) was banned from that particular coffee chain during the espresso incident.

He made his way through the crowd and sat down beside Nora.

"Ah, the returning knights have brought their bounty!" She bellowed from her position standing on the table. "Sit and present your offerings to your queen."

"Here's your food Nora." Ren said, setting one of the plates on the table next to him before sitting down.

Nora hopped off the table and slid into her seat, unwrapping the sandwich and eating with gusto as the others sat down. Pyrrha sat to her right, leaving enough space on the end of the row for Jaune to sit when he arrived. The other side was taken up by Team RWBY, who had their own pretty light food stuffs to eat, with the exception of their leader who had taken the opportunity to grab an entire plate of cookies. They didn't sit together for every meal, but most meals they did because of the friendship of their respective leaders. Though Ruby seemed more friendly with Pyrrha lately, and immediately dove into conversation about the festival and the new styles and weapons they would see there.

"It's so exciting, I've never been to a Vytal festival before and they're having it right here in Vale!" Ruby said.

"It is quite the event. I've never really got to go when I was in Mistral." Pyrrha said.

"Really? But that's like THE fighting competition. Also my uncle said there's tons of events and games around the festival cause the kingdoms love, well, 'milking the festival attendees for all their worth'." Ruby said with air quotes. "What were you doing?"

"Training, mostly. I saw the videos from the festival on television, but didn't get a seat to the festival proper." She said.

"Well, we should totally go together. When we're not fighting, I mean." Ruby said quietly afterwards.

"Is that really a good idea? They would be the competition, after all." Weiss said, perking at the competition.

"That doesn't mean we can't hang out. We're all Beacon students and should stick together." Ruby said.

"Are you saying that it's Vytal that we stick tog…."

A spray of water hit Yang a few moments later and everyone at the table turned their heads to see Ume and Jaune appearing out of the crowd.

Ume was holding a yellow spray bottle, which she held up.

"No."

"Why you!"

Yang tried to lunge at the girl, but nearly fell out of her chair because of the awkward angle the bench put her on. Ume leaned backwards just out of reach.

"I was going to get food, but that was just awful." Ume said as she slid the spray bottle into her sleeve.

"Jaune, I saved you a seat." Pyrrha perked up, the two of them raising their hands.

"Thanks Pyrrha, but we have to go through the line first." Jaune said, rubbing his head as Ume headed towards the lunch line.

"Did you have much trouble with whatever Ume needed to reach?" Nora asked this time.

"What?" Their leader seemed to pause before readjusting. "Oh, right, um, yeah. I, well, we can talk about that later. I, I'm gonna get some food."

He turned off before heading towards the line.

"Did he seem off to you?" Ruby said as soon as he was out of sight.

"He might still be embarrassed about his loss. I know I'd be, he hasn't won a match yet this year." Weiss said absently as she reached down and looked at her apple.

"I'm sure he'll get better if he gets a better match up." Pyrrha defended.

"Oh, that reminds me, last night I had this weird dream."

Nora interjected and started on a tangent about her recurring dream of them kill and skinning grimm, which was of course impossible since grimm never left behind a corpse. Not that it mattered, as she said the tale he interjected the details she misremembered or deliberately changed to make it more exciting, as she often did while she went through the story. Only pausing as Jaune and Ume appeared at their table. Jaune had a small plate, Ume had... several plates stacked on top of each other.

How Ume could hold all those plates without spilling them, Ren didn't know. How Ume ate all the things she brought on those plates without making herself sick he honestly didn't want to know. Ren sipped his coffee as his leader picked at his food and the young girl who spoke an ancient branch dialect of Mistralian fluently lined up her plates to start devouring her food.

He didn't speak to her often because she didn't speak much during meals, but she usually sat next to him. Mostly because Nora would always want to sit next to him, Pyrrha would always want to sit next to Jaune and Jaune liked sitting at the end of the row. She wouldn't sit next to Nora even though she could because Nora would try to steal food off her multiple plates and after being scolded by the headmaster for damaging the table with her fork it was just easier this way, because Nora wouldn't actually reach around Ren to get to Ume's food. She'd just take his instead.

Ren just let the girl be as he finished correcting Nora's story.

"She's been having this recurring dream fo…."

He paused as he saw out of the corner of his eye the small girl next to him whip her head around suddenly.

Turning his head, he looked behind him to another table to see Team CRDL had surrounded and were now mocking a loan faunus girl with long brown ears. He had seen her once or twice around campus and he knew she was a second year. She was still in her class uniform and her team was nowhere to be found.

"(Lovely)." Ume said the statement flatly in her ancient tongue.

Everyone else turned their heads to see the scene of the four guys mocking the girl.

"Cardin Winchester, he's that boy who's been trying to bully Ume since the beginning of the semester." Pyrrha said.

Trying, of course, was the keyword. Whatever Cardin tried to do either didn't work or blew up in his face and Ume took most of it in stride. It almost certainly wasn't a coincidence or luck that it happened, Ume just didn't acknowledge it most of the time. Though now she watched the scene with a glare before she glanced at the rest of the table. Ren didn't wince at the stare, but the others did as she said in a low voice.

"Aren't you guys going to do something?"

It was a question, but it sounded like a statement. Ume sometimes did that, ask questions that weren't really questions, just like she sometimes looked like that or said things that suggested her past was in fact not kind. Ren knew how was that was, he and Nora shared a history that they didn't wish to repeat, but this was different. It was a statement, but no one moved from their seat.

Though it was Weiss who broke the silence.

"Isn't that a second year? Shouldn't she be able to defend herself?"

"She's outnumbered." Ume responded in the same low voice.

"Where is her team?" Ruby glanced over. "Shouldn't they…."

"Shouldn't you do something?" Ume responded before she finished.

"Well, that's the thing. She hasn't asked for help, and we don't know her. It would probably embarrass her more." Yang said, a little nervous under the younger girl's glare.

It didn't stop the girl even as she turned to their side of the table. Nora didn't even hesitate.

"I know, we'll break their legs!"

Ren reached up and grabbed Nora to sit down.

"That's not a good idea, it'll just get us in trouble." Jaune said, but he winced as he looked at the girl.

He was feeling bad, Ren could tell that much, but breaking into a brawl in the cafeteria was not a good idea either.

"Fine," Ume said as she held up her scroll "I'll deal with it."

She paused as it rang for a few moments before handing it to Ren.

"Hold this, and turn the camera towards them."

She handed him the scroll before walking off, not in the direction of team CRDL, but instead out of the lunchroom.

Ren looked at the scroll for a moment before it stopped ringing and a bright red store appeared with a woman in sunglasses and a beret appearing on the screen.

"This had better be important, I'm in the middle of a sale."

"Um,"

Ren paused but turned the camera towards the scene which had now turned to Cardin advancing, then grabbing the rabbit girl's ear. Ren heard cursing on the other end of the line before sound cut off. He turned the camera back around to see that the call had disconnected, but that didn't hold his attention for long as a voice boomed across the cafeteria.

"Mr. Winchester. Release Ms. Scarlatina this instant."

Heads turned as Glynda Goodwitch appeared from the doorway, crop in hand as she walked forward. Not a single student stood in her way as she made her way down the aisles and several of them scooted out of her way and pushed their heads down to keep themselves out of line of her sharp gaze. The woman's gait was quick as she got to the table and looked at the scene.

Velvet pushed away from team CRDL like a, well, a scared rabbit as Glynda made it to the team who had seemed to freeze. Glynda looked at Velvet and said in an even voice.

"Ms. Scarlatina, are your ears feeling alright?"

"There, umm," The faunus girl turned away. "It's a bit sore."

"Yes, I know faunus ears are supposed to be very sensitive, which is why I have to ask," Glynda's eyes narrowed into chips of ice. "Why you saw fit to grab her like that?"

Cardin was speechless, as was the rest of his team, most of his bravado lost under the blonde teacher's gaze. If there was anything the students of Beacon learned, it was that you didn't cross or argue with Glynda Goodwitch, it hadn't taken long for that to set in as she held her glare before pointing at them with her crop.

"I see." She paused to let out a breath. "Detention, all four of you. My office, Saturday morning."

This seemed to ellicit a stutter from the Russel.

"But it was Cardin who…."

"Are you not his teammate?" The response cut Russel off. "Yet I saw you make no action to stop him, nor did anyone else for that matter." Her voice rose at this as she glanced around the cafeteria. "Which is in and of itself astounding."

It wasn't a shouting voice, but it carried through the cafeteria as everyone froze at suddenly being addressed en mass as Glynda reached up and adjusted her glasses.

"I do not know what you students believe you are here to become, but let me correct something. Some of you may have looked upon this scene or similar scenes and passed it off as being not your problem, or not your responsibility. That is where you are wrong." She punctuated the word by slapping her crop on her palm.

"You are future hunters and huntresses, which means future protectors of this world, not bystanders or passerbys. To be passive in acts of injustice, in acts of prejudice, goes against everything being a huntsman stands for. You cannot and should not be apathetic to the plights of others, because your job will require you to care, to be on the front lines for total strangers when you are called to it. You cannot afford to pick and choose who is to be saved simply because you do not believe it concerns you. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing."

The words echoed through the dead silence of the cafeteria as the woman glanced around before turning back to Team CRDL.

"Be there at 8am. Do. Not. Be. Late."

She turned, her cape flying out behind her as her heels clicked on the hard floors. Not a single person got in her way as she made her way out of the cafeteria.

* * *

The moment I got out of the cafeteria I made sure no one was watching as I opened and stepped into the nearest closest and released the henge. I held my throat for a moment, letting out a sigh. Ugh, I hated changing my voice. It always put a strain on my vocal cords. Thank god Glynda didn't have a deep voice, otherwise it would have been impossible to pull off. Reaching down, I pulled the small tape deck out of my pocket and listened for a moment to the recording I'd made. Good, I hadn't gone too off pitch when I did it, though I doubt anyone would have noticed. They looked stunned when I, well, correction, when Glynda Goodwitch entered the scene.

Really, should they have been? No idea. Honestly, I didn't think Cardin would go as far as to actually grab Ms. Velvet's ears, that had to hurt. He hadn't actually hurt me yet. Mind you, he hadn't managed to even get close enough to do so to me. I was fine with that, really, because his singular focus on trying to prank me in particular seemed to consume his time so much he basically ignored everyone else. If me being his target kept him off of people who might actually be affected by his bullying, then I was fine with that. It was why it startled me so much when I felt Velvet's fear and dread. The sudden surge of emotion made me lose my appetite.

Though not as much as the reaction of the two teams. Sure, they felt guilty when it happened, but they didn't do anything about it. That, that was so wrong. How could they protect against big things if they weren't even willing to step up against small things? Well, Nora was, and though in her case it probably would have been excessive, it was still something. I knew why Jaune didn't want to, he couldn't actually stand up to Cardin, but the others...

I probably shouldn't have been as disappointed as I was. They were just children, after all, but it was sad how little they did.

They weren't the only ones either. It was bystander syndrome at its finest. If not for that, I might have been more direct. Hopefully that would change something. Well, that, and the thorough whipping team CVFY was going to give team CRDL when they got here. Cocoa was a very aggressive woman with anything she cared about. Her devotion to making sure her very nice clothing was well taken care of was why I had her number at all and if she cared even a fraction of that for her team she'd be here on the next shuttle and would probably drag Cardin to the training arena herself.

Now that would be a show. I didn't have anything against Cardin personally, not really. He didn't even register as a threat to me, but what happened to Velvet was not something that should go without reprisal. Though I suppose maybe the detention was a little much.

Opening the door, I stepped out into the hallway. I should probably do som…

My thoughts were cut off by a familiar sensation of weightlessness taking me as I was spun to face the form of the real Glynda Goodwitch.

"Miss Ume, I believe we have some things to discuss."


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Isn't Professor Ozpin like, busy or something?" The redheaded girl floating under Glynda Goodwitch's power inquired as the two of them rode the elevator to his office.

The girl hadn't really stopped inquiring about what they were doing and where they were going. Not that Glynda doubted the girl didn't already know.

"Yes, but this situation requires some discussion about how it should be handled."

Glynda looked at her, a side glance at the small package of trouble that had been walking the halls of Beacon. While she could understand someone being inquisitive as well as encourage that behavior in students, she wasn't entirely sure the girl wasn't just asking certain questions to get a rise out of her. The class auditor, as she was called, seemed to start every one of her classes with a new set of questions which, while innocent in context, seemed to have an edge of sarcasm on every delivery.

Thankfully, the girl only did so at the beginning of class, and only interrupted the class proper if she was addressed directly. She still couldn't understand why Cardin Winchester had such a desire to fight the small girl. Even if there was evidence the girl could potentially fight the boy on even ground, the actual act of fighting would be a nightmare to deal with. Especially if Winchester injured her, that would be a nightmare. Though she occasionally saw the appeal of it, the girl had done nothing to warrant such extreme measures.

Not that they knew of, which was more a question of what they did know she had done with this recent development.

"Which situation is that?" The girl asked again, feigning an innocent smile. Glynda rubbed her nose.

"The situation that despite the fact that I had just left a meeting, there was a video streaming on the school's social media site of me being in the lunchroom giving out a detention to Team CRDL."

The elevator clicked and the door started to open as Glynda walked forward.

"That sounds like you, the great and powerful Glynda Goodwitch, appearing wherever rule breaking occurs to offer swift and concise justice." She said with a smile.

"That does sound like an apt description." Ozpin said from his place at his desk in the large office.

Glynda looked at the man with a frown as she walked forward, floating the girl to a chair as the screen on his desk lit up, showing the relevant video.

"I especially like the part at the end, 'The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.' Very true, very poetic, did you think of that yourself?"

"Why are you asking me?" Ume said, glancing at Glynda, who let out a sigh as she placed two fingers on her temple.

"Headmaster, she has been this way since I found her in the hallway."

"Ah yes, the hallway. That is a different angle to look at this, isn't it?"

With a click on his keyboard, Ozpin brought up a different camera. This was not on a social media website, instead showing the longer angle of the hallway that flanked the cafeteria on one side. It showed nothing for a good twenty seconds, but then the small, undeniable form of Ume appeared out of the hallway, shuffling out and disappearing into a closet, before Glynda Goodwitch appeared a moment later out of it and headed into the cafeteria. There was a few minutes gap before the same Glynda walked out of the cafeteria, glanced around then went into the closet. Only some time later Glynda appeared off screen to find Ume leaving the closet.

"You'd care to explain this?"

"I think Miss Goodwitch is the one who needs to explain her sudden ability to teleport."

Ume glanced upwards, to which Glynda placed her hand on her forehead.

Ozpin didn't sound upset, but more amused.

"Now, Miss Ume, I understand your apprehension."

"No, you really don't." She replied. "But I guess you are going to assume that was actually me regardless."

"Unless you are somehow acquainted with someone capable of teleportation and creating doppelgangers, yes."

"Well no, he died before I got a chance to meet him. I heard he was a hoot at parties though." The girl said and Glynda had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

"Professor, this is a serious issue. The fact that she's even capable of such a thing means she could pretend to be anyone at any time." She looked at Ume.

"Um, no, not really." It was Ume who spoke up at that.

"Would you care to elaborate?" Ozpin said, this time over his mug.

"Do I care to, no, but it doesn't seem you'll let me leave unless I do, right?" She replied.

"We won't hold you here, but it is concerning that you have this ability. Miss Goodwitch is correct, such an ability can be very damning. Even if it only lasts a few moments, someone's image is a powerful tool."

"You mean weapon." She said it in a voice that was steelier than earlier. Her eyelids lowered to a narrower point as she looked at Ozpin. "Right?"

"Any tool can be a weapon." He replied quickly.

"I'm neither confirming nor denying I have the ability to do anything of the sort." She replied. "But, looking at the circumstances, what do you think of this particular tool?"

There was a pause as they looked at the video again. Glynda looked at the video, which started with a close up of her form but panned quickly to Cardin Winchester holding the ears of Velvet Scarlatina. The look of pain on the girl's face was clear. It continued to play out as her doppelganger chewed out Cardin, issuing detention and then chewing out the entire cafeteria. It wasn't that far from what Glynda would have done personally. What Cardin was doing was very much out of line, after all.

Still, she had to speak up.

"If you saw this going on, why did you not see fit to contact a professor or take a video of the act? Cardin deserved to be punished, that much was clear, and a video would have sufficed."

"But that wasn't the problem." Ume spoke frustration replacing her earlier low tone as she pointed at the video. "Look at them."

"Team CRDL?" Glynda responded.

"No, the table behind them, the table in front of them, all of them, what are they doing?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Nothing, they were doing nothing. An entire cafeteria just sat there, and watched as that girl was tormented. Would a detention suffice for that? Would a professor have done something about that?"

"Velvet Scarlatina is a second year student, she should well be able to take care of herself and not every student could have seen what was happening"

"What the hell do you mean they couldn't of seen it. Look at her!"

She looked at the screen, and pointed at Velvet Scarlatina. "They flanked her on all sides, they cornered her and she was scared, but not only that, she was…"

Ume looked down, a little bit of strain on her face. "She was resigned, because she knew, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that no one was coming for her."

The girl's voice dropped, her eyes closing as her breath quickened. Glynda looked at the girl, trying to register what was happening her mind. Gone was the sarcastic demeanor, in its place was an upset girl, an upset child who seemed to be in pain and it pained her to look at it. People often called Glynda icy, they called her forceful and rigid, but that was just who she needed to be to her students. You didn't run a school for trained warriors by appearing like you weren't in control, that there wouldn't be consequences for their actions should they ever even attempt to tread down the wrong path, because in the end that was the worst thing that could happen to a hunter. Those who trained here, even unpolished, carried enormous power and there was no way that power could be tempered with anything but a firm hand.

It didn't mean that she didn't want to comfort the girl in front of her.

She was a teacher, you don't take such a profession because you didn't care or because you wanted to see students, children, in pain. But at this moment she wasn't sure how she should treat this girl, because as much as she wanted to reach out she couldn't predict how she would react, because not matter how together she may seem, it was clear to Glynda that Ume was a scarred child. She knew exactly how much, she had overseen the girl when she was first brought to Beacon, so small and innocent looking at first but when her clothing was taken away and she went to the clinic for treatment it was clear that this girl went through a lot. Physical abuse, the type that left deep lasting scars that could not be seen. Abused children sometimes made their way to Beacon as well, and such cases were tricky at the the best of times and an absolute mess always.

"Yet, you did not stand up for her yourself." Ozpin broke the silence and Glynda's thoughts, forcing Ume to look up.

To this Ume let out a laugh. It wasn't a pleasant one, but a low, humorless one.

"Yes, because that would definitely make things better."  
She scoffed.

"A small girl standing up for an almost fully grown woman. Besides, to them, I'm an outsider, why should they have to listen to me?"

It struck Glynda again how sad she sounded at that, but it was not wholly incorrect. In the school and in life there was always a social hierarchy, groups formed and bonded as who does and does not belong where. It was how countries formed, how villages formed, communal bonds based on what was familiar. The team system was built around just this, four people form a team, a small community, a family often that they pulled together. Did she feel isolated because of her age? Probably, for all they knew she was a civilian, still.

"Nevermind the fact that it was blatant racism." Ume said in a low voice. "They called her a freak, then Cardin just grabbed her, like she was some toy he could manhandle, like she didn't deserve her own space."

"You don't have that where you are from, Miss Ume, racism?" Ozpin asked and Glynda paused to look at the girl. She knew she was from some small isolated area, did she not experience that there?

"Racism, no, not really." She shook her head. "Though nationalism, yes, yes, we do. Rabid nationalism, blood feuds, border disputes, oh and about fifteen years ago, all the major nations were at war with each other."

Glynda blinked as the girl counted out the problems on her fingers like they were everyday things. That was, quite an environment to be raised in.

"And in some ways, humans are still at war with faunus." Ozpin said with a sigh.

"You mean the White Fang." Ume said lightly.

"Yes. You've done your research." Ozpin said.

"Yes, I understand they're a terrorist organization, I understand they've done terrible thing and that it's made people afraid. I understand how people can hate faunus, because of them." She said it in a matter of fact tone. "But I also understand they are a symptom of the problem."

Glynda looked at Ozpin, who paused for a few more moments than normal. He was in thought, as was she as she looked at the girl.

"The problem."

"Fear, fear and greed. And above all else elitism. As you've said, I've done my research. Not just on my scroll. It was hard to find I'll grant you, but thankfully the government doesn't burn books as much as it alters articles."

She looked at Ozpin, her voice lower as she spoke this time.

"Especially since the tipping point to the start of the White Fang's change of leadership was the rash of reports five years about the conditions caused by labor laws that were passed twenty years ago by the council, said reports that until that point, were completely ignored. You can't even find anything before that point about them, though if you read the laws carefully you know what they did."

Glynda winced a bit at the tone, but she knew of the subject. Atlas, despite its heavy cooperation with the other nations and contributions to advance the world's technology, was not without its flaws. There were a lot of major advancements in the last twenty years and a lot of it was done under the purview of those laws.

"It looked so innocent on the surface too, it was a mass invitation. Come to Atlas, we have jobs, we have shelter, we'll take care of your family, no matter who you are. I'm sure it sounded appealing at the time, especially for faunus, who had been suffering under labor laws in Mistral and also Vale at the time."

She let out a deep breath.

"Except there was a catch. There is always a catch. You get fed, you get shelter, but then you have to pay that back, you always have to pay that back. Which would be fine, except the companies have complete control over how much all that costs. So it would result in debt, and more debt, and basically those who moved there were less employed and more enslaved to their contracts. Yet, no matter what happened, until five years ago, no one knew. It was like someone was censoring it." She reached over and pushed her hair over her ear. "And people wondered why the faunus started to lash out."

"Terrorism is never an answer to problems, and several of those labor laws were repealed." Ozpin pointed out.

"Yeah, four years ago, after several terrorist attacks, violent faunus revolts and basically enough damage done and noise made that it couldn't just be swept under the rug to avoid generating negativity. Which means that it was literally fear fighting hatred, hatred created by greed, and now it's an open wound of suspicion and hate that won't close because those members of a terrorist organization that gained something in the span of a year through violence that twenty years of protesting and non-violence didn't. So now they're continuing the violence because it's the only thing they think will work, which will generate more fear and hatred, all because Atlas wanted to fill its mines."

Glynda looked at the girl, her brow furrowed as she listened to her. She had heard in passing from Oobleck that the girl had a cynical streak in her and that she was fully convinced that the government was censoring and editing history and information. Which was, well, not false, not exactly. Such things were done only in very extreme cases, but it still did happen. Was that because she knew her government did the same? If where she was from had so recently been at war, then it wouldn't be far fetched. It'd been a little over forty years since the last major war, since the hunter system had really been established, and there were still tensions.

"I will admit it is a violent cycle, but it doesn't justify what the White Fang do."

"No, but it doesn't justify the persecution of an entire people because of the actions of others. What Cardin Winchester did is not the sort of behavior any person who is going to be a symbol should exhibit, because if you allow people who are admired to get away with such behavior instead of condemning it, then such behavior will become more accepted and more normalized when it shouldn't be. The sheer fact that none of the other students did anything to stop it has already shown this effect in action. If they really are to be the saviors of this world, they can't get into the habit of ignoring people in need, ever."

The girl was standing at this point, her hands on the table as she looked at Ozpin, who simply met her gaze before replying.

"And I agree." Ozpin said simply. "You are correct that racism against faunus or anybody will not and should not be tolerated. As for bullying, well, it is known to happen in every new class, though we generally let students take care of such things on their own. The team system promotes a very healthy support for any student who may believe they are being targeted by others and if we believe it is happening in teams we will intervene and change team arrangements should the issue not be resolved. Though that is very rare, when you fight with someone on missions there is a measure of trust that must happen for the sake of one's own survival, so teams will often work together to mitigate strife amongst their ranks. We also find that having such goals and trials overcome on their own helps to build rapport and strengthen the bonds of the teams."

"But she was alone, and scared. She might not even had said anything to her team because she was afraid." Ume countered.

"Yes, but it is not like her team remained uninformed. In fact..."

Ozpin clicked a few buttons on his desk and the screen changed to show, well, a slaughter. Team CFVY was in fact shown on a battlefield while Team CRDL was scattered and beaten, running for cover over a hail of bullets.

"It seems like they are sending quite a clear message as to what would happen should it occur again."

Ume actually paused to look at the image, as did Glynda. Though Glynda was well aware of the capabilities of Team CFVY, it was always a good reminder to see them in action of their work as one of the top tiered second year teams.

"Where the hell did Coco get a gattling gun?" Ume looked at the screen.

"She stores it in her purse." Ozpin looked up.

"Bullshit, her purse is like two textbooks thick at most, there's no way it unfolds into that. Even with an external weapons feed there is no way a functioning gun could actually push into such a tiny space." Ume made the hand gestures for the shapes.

"You would have to ask her about the design if you have doubts. Regardless, we have gotten a bit off topic."

"That is correct. Regardless of the reasons, of the circumstances, such a thing cannot happen again. You especially cannot give out punishments like detentions." Glynda said as Ozpin brought the screen down.

Ume blinked, looking up at Glynda as if she had forgotten she was present. Her expression changed from her confusion at the screen to a small smile as she looked at the older woman.

"But Miss Goodwitch, I didn't give out the detention. It's clear as day that it was given by you? Are you going to go tell Team CRDL that they don't have detention on Saturday? That would probably be pretty confusing."

Glynda frowned at the contradiction, but it did present several problems. Could she retract the detention? Yes, she could, but how would that seem? Especially since it was clear that CRDL deserved it. Not only that, if she denied it was her, it would make the student body suspicious. She couldn't very well point to Ume as the culprit, she didn't have an awakened aura, it was said multiple times in her class. Even if they believed her, rumors of someone being able to use the appearance of others was not something they needed spread around.

"But, you cannot simply walk about doing as you please."

"You have no proof of that." She replied. "You simply have proof that I spent some time in a closet. Is that enough to claim that a civilian without an awakened aura, somehow can successfully pass for a Beacon professor? Who's to say it's not just a glitch in the camera?"

"Yes, that is a problem, isn't it?" Ozpin interrupted Glynda before she could even begin to speak. "It would be absurd to think that you could pretend to be a professor. Though if you think it a possibility maybe you should take some responsibility as one."

"Ozpin," Glynda looked at the man, not sure what he was thinking.

"Yes, in fact that sounds like a great idea. Saturday morning at 8am, quite an early time, but you seem quite the early riser Miss Ume, so in light of recent events I think it would be quite appropriate for you to preside over the detention of Team CRDL."

"What." Glynda and Ume said simultaneously.

"I'm sure it would be an enlightening experience. Of course you would be responsible for them for whatever you decide to do." Ozpin smiled.

"What's to stop them from just blowing me off?" Ume looked at him.

"That is a good question, isn't it? It is something I am sure you will answer yourself in time. So I trust I'll be seeing you on Saturday at 8am, or you could just have them go unpunished."

There was a pause as Glynda watched the girl look down and purse her lips, before reaching up, rubbing her nose and sighing.

"Saturday at 8 then." She let out a breath. "Is that all then? Can I go?" She looked at him, then Glynda.

"Assuming you stay out of trouble I don't see any further need for discussion." Ozpin responded.

The girl got up quickly and left, but Glynda stood at Ozpin's desk before looking at him, her voice low.

"Should we really just let her do as she pleases, especially with that ability? That was a near perfect copy and no one questioned it. If she could do that with anybody, it could be disastrous."

"Yes, I believe she is aware of that, which is why she refused to admit it." He turned in his chair, looking towards the window. Glynda let out a sigh, as she knew he might be thinking of something.

"You still think she could be an ally."

"She certainly doesn't seem to want to be an enemy. Or at least, she doesn't want to appear as such." He reached over and grabbed his mug off the table. "What do you think of her so far? You have seen more of her than I."

"She's sarcastic, cynical and has a large amount of if not disregard, then outright disdain for any sort of authority."

"Yet, she has yet to actively seek to break any rules."

"That we've seen." Glynda said.

"She doesn't trust us, I don't think she trusts anyone here, and she has an unknown amount of capabilities. In fact, we have yet to determine her semblance, or where these techniques she claims come from. It's much more varied than any forms we've seen before in terms of aura manipulation."

Glynda wasn't a practitioner of the art herself, but she had seen dozen users who manipulated aura. The most basic ones could use it for offense and defense, more advanced ones could even heal, though that was very rare and something that took decades to master according to them. Yet they had seen her do multiple things that couldn't be covered under a single semblance, and now this.

"She's hiding something."

"That is the way of the world, isn't it? Many mysteries, many secrets, many held by people close to us, yet we must find a way to accept that they may never tell."

"But she is a complete unknown. She could very well be a danger to the students." Glynda countered.

"I am not so sure." Ozpin turned towards her. "Whatever she is capable of, I don't believe her to be the type to turn against the students. She seems quite friendly with several of them. Even the ones who have been antagonistic towards her she has not raised a hand nor a challenge to them. In fact, the only reason we are having this conversation is because of her apparent need to disregard her own secrets in the defense of a student, and not even a student whom she has closely associated with."

"What if she does turn against us?" Glynda replied.

That would be a, well, dangerous proposition if she could change into other people at will. A council member, a colleague, a family member, it didn't take much more than a friendly face to make someone let their guard down. It unsettled Glynda to think so much of a threat from a child, but she knew it would be foolish to underestimate someone simply because of their age. She had seen many prodigies before, talented youths with powers that could subdue armies in their wake.

"Tit for tat is what she told me before, and I think this still applies. She feels indebted to us for housing her I believe, and though I cannot completely understand her standing she seems to have a very stringent moral compass. As long as we do not overreact to the situation I don't think we are in any danger of making her an enemy."

Glynda paused then glanced out the window and at the future ahead of them. Of the Vytal festival that is coming to them, and the people there whom they will have to watch over and also of an old friend.

"So, are we going to tell James?"

Ozpin paused, taking a sip before looking at Glynda. "Oh heavens, no."

* * *

Danny sat on my lap as I continued the hand stitch on the white felt in my hand. I did most of the main stitches on that old clanky machine of the school's. The creature made me rub my head as I tried to think.

I had to run a detention, the hell was I supposed to do, make them write lines? I don't think I will not assault fellow students didn't make a great excuse, plus I doubted it'd do anything. I could just skip it, but then they'd go on just, doing what they've been doing because they didn't think their actions had any negative consequences.

How the hell did you deal with a bully who's made it to this age? I mean, sure, they could probably change, but team CRDL hated me. I knew Cardin hated me, he was so single-mindedly focused on trying to screw with me because he still hadn't gotten over me snubbing him for the laundry incident and now I had to spend the day with him and his team. What a freaking headache.

There was a meowing next to me as Danny started pawing at the plush white cube.

"(Hey, I left food out for you, what are you complaining for?)"

He meowed again, then jumped off my lap and headed towards the door. A moment later there was knock. I let out a breath and stretched out my legs and walked towards the door. The calm and cheer hit me before I go too close and I let out a breath as I opened the door.

"Hey Ren, and Nora, what brings you here?"

"You forgot your scroll in the lunchroom." Ren held out the device.

"And your food!" Nora said too, holding out several paper boxes in both hands, some which she was balancing on her head. "You said you hated wasting food, right?"

I let out a smile at the display.

"I lost my appetite earlier, though I'll probably get it back soon, so thanks."

The girl smiled as she bounced her head forward and caught the boxes in her balancing act. I didn't know how she managed that without chakra sticking it, but Nora was Nora. Trying to make sense of it was probably an effort in futility.

She stacked up the boxes before leaning in the doorway. "Whatcha doing in there?"

"Just a little sewing project. I'm trying to make a stuffed animal." I said as I walked over and set the food on the desk. Even cold, it smelled good and my stomach started to protest the lack of input.

"Oh, like the arcades. I have tons of those, me and Renny used to go to those all the time." Nora said.

I glanced towards her, then Ren, who shrugged his shoulders. "It's good hand eye coordination training."

"I'm sure, you haven't gone lately?" I said.

"Nah, we've been super busy with school stuff. Though maybe we'll go this weekend. Oh, oh, you want to go with us? You're super fast, I'd bet you'd be great at whack a beowolf." She said. "Or skeeball, oh, they have great prizes for skeeball."

"I'm busy Saturday, maybe we can go Sunday." I replied. "But it sounds fun. You ask Pyrrha and Jaune if they're coming?"

"They're back at the room. We're going there now, apparently Jauney has something super important to talk about. Oh, maybe he's asking Pyrrha out on a date." Nora said.

"I don't think he'd need us there to do that." Ren replied with a breath, but that didn't stop Nora's excitement mounting at the prospect.

"Well, you'll have to go and see then, won't you?" I said, leaning on the door. "If your team leader has something he needs to say, you shouldn't keep him waiting."

Lord knows he didn't need more time to lose his nerve.

"Oh, let's race, last one there buys pancakes." Nora said.

"Nora, wa…"

"One, two, three, go!"

She bolted down the wall after saying it in one quick breath. Looking out, I could already see her form disappearing down the staircase.

"So, pancakes?" I looked at him.

"I always buy pancakes. How did you know about Velvet's team? They showed up not long after dinner and challenged team CRDL to a match." He paused. "I heard it was quite short."

"I know all the first and second year teams from doing laundry, and Coco Adel was very vocal about keeping her clothes in good shape. She gave me her number the second week of school." I replied.

"That would explain it. Well, I better get going, if I take too long to get to our room, Nora will start a search party." He said, walking down the hallway.

"You're kidding, right?" I looked at him, to which he just looked up and shook his head.

* * *

 **Been busy, prepping for stuff, this stuff is at the moment easier to write cause I have it planned out to a point (and there is a set timeline in story), anyway, will try to get some Sugar Plums stuff done by the end of the month.**

 **Reviews would be nice.**


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I sat on the edge of the roof. Jaune and Pyrrha were behind me, looking over the side. The two of them were going through some basic forms. Jaune had taken the plunge and confessed to his team what he had done. I'm not sure what I would have done if he hadn't, maybe pushed the guilt envelope a little more over the next few days. I didn't like doing something like that but I could, I had two lifetimes now of experience as a daughter, a sister and something of a mother in my current life.

Thankfully, it hadn't come to that. Despite his tendency to hesitate and over think things, once he had actually made a decision it didn't take much for him to go forward with it. He was similar to Hiroshi in that regard. Though Hiroshi had grown into something just a little bit more thoughtful.

I closed my eyes and let out a breath as the ache washed over me. The longing for home, for my family, for my friends. What I wouldn't give to sit in a boring meeting about us pulling money out of our asses to fund one of the projects or reallocating resources again, getting the tar beaten out of me by Haku or Suigetsu while Zabuza heckled, being awoken by being dragged upside down and hanging from the ceiling because Minami tied me to a wire trap in my sleep, or having Kiriko or Benjiro berate me for doing something dangerous. To go back and play shogi with Hiroshi, look over patients with Mitsuki, tease Chojuro about his crush on Mei, or to meditate with Genji.

I'd fight another war, petition a cause or even start a revolution if it would take me home, but that was the thing. I didn't have some course of action or direction I could go to just make that happen.

I didn't really have anything.

The type of resources I'd need to actively search for home, for a way to get home, I just didn't have access to here. Getting access to such a thing was also a significant risk, because as far as I could tell people like me, in a place like this, would be very dangerous.

While I couldn't say with certainty what the quality of full graduates from this school would be, it wouldn't matter. The hunter system was one that was carefully vetted, even with several schools and lots of training and graduates every year, it appeared at the least that the total number of hunters in a single kingdom was somewhere in the hundreds. It really was an elite force created for one purpose.

Which would be fine, if ninjas didn't number in the thousands.

Now hunters were probably fairly skilled in their own right with their jobs, but ten to one wasn't great odds. Even if most shinobi were D class or less, all those shinobi were also trained to kill human opponents, not hate monsters, as well as VERY willing to do whatever it takes to win a fight. Some ninja like to think there is something like a code, but really the only things that moderated a ninja were the terms of their contract and what they could get away with that wouldn't blow back onto their village.

Which, while varying from village to village, was still a disgustingly long list of possibilities.

Shinobi were not above slaughtering or ransoming civilians to force other shinobi to back down. In fact, doing just that to farmers was a common tactic in the shinobi wars. They certainly weren't above poisoning water supplies, spoiling lands, or causing panics. What a shinobi would and would not do was mostly just their prerogative and they could deal with whatever fallout that came about because of it. Most shinobi with bounties were those who crossed the line to attack civilians, but other than that if they got the job done there was no other real punishment. I didn't think hunters could actually cross that line because of how important morale and public image was to them.

If a war happened between the elemental nations and these kingdoms, I didn't think these kingdoms would survive it. They had technology, they had warriors and they had soldiers, but they also had been at peace for four decades. They didn't know what war looked like anymore, especially guerrilla war. Even if some sort of peace could be extended, as unlikely as that was, all it would take is one side trying to take care of the other to open up hostilities and cause something, anything on the small scale. Which, considering the threat of the grimm, would erupt immediately on the large scale.

The grimm were also a concern. They seem to be either unaware or barred from the elemental nations.

Regardless, I don't think either side should have much contact with each other. Whatever benefits that might come from such contact are greatly outweighed by the fact that I know at least one of the nations would see these people as a threat and as such attack pre-emptively to try and take their resources, people and technology for themselves.

That was exactly what had happened to the Uzumaki after all.

No, it would be best if I could somehow gather up the resources to search on my own, with a smaller group if necessary. Though I'd need to find people who could at least keep a se…

"Ume, did you want any input?"

I was shaken out of my thoughts by Pyrrha, who had spoken for the first time. I glanced towards her, feeling the curiosity flicker off her like a flame. Jaune was in a basic starter stance from what I could tell, his shield was at his side and his sword up.

"You doing rote stances, right?" I stood up and walked over. Looking for a moment, I paused. "Shouldn't it be deeper?"

Pyrrha looked at Jaune.

"Maybe, depends on how much he needs to move."

"I don't think someone like Jaune should need to move that much." I said.

"Someone like me?" Worry tinted Jaune's light just a bit as he glanced at me.

"Someone who uses a kite shield, that's more for being slow and taking hits." I said.

"Though, if we're just going to do rote, it'll take years for you to ingrain the stances into muscle memory, at least like this." I looked at him, then at Pyrrha. "I've got an idea."

Reaching into my sleeve, I pulled out my wooden sword.

"Are you gonna spar me?" Jaune said.

"Nah, something else. Pyrrha, show me how this form is supposed to be executed." I said.

The girl didn't even question it as she went through the motions. They were fluid and well practiced, I looked at them, then at Jaune.

"Right, go ahead."

He looked at me, a little nervous as I hefted my sword and he took a first jerky step and,

Twack!

His aura flared as it took the blow to his knee and he pushed it backwards.

"What the hell?"

"You didn't straighten it for the first step. Try again." I said, holding the wooden sword on my shoulder again.

"Are you gonna hit me again?" He looked at me, just a little fearful.

"If you do it wrong, or your stance is wrong, or if you fall out of form, yes." I tapped my sword.

"Isn't that a bit extreme?" Pyrrha said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I mean, with gentle guidance I'm sure Jaune will improve."

"And it'll take years." I looked at her, raising my eyebrows. "Yeah, that is the proper way to teach someone, correct their forms, and have them repeat them, over and over and over again. It yields a steady and stable style, but do we really have the time for that?"

I glanced at Jaune. "Do you have the time for that?"

"I mean, I'm sure if…"

"You've already lost your first match out of your yearly required ten. You need to win at least half of your yearly ten one on one matches to get what is considered a minimum passing grade for the year for Glynda's class."

"I," He looked down. "I know, I figured if I practiced I'd be able to push through next semester."

"You mean with the Vytal festival? Yeah, that's a good plan, because any win made by you team boosts your collective score, which will boost your academic average, team average and single combat average. With Pyrrha on your team, that's good enough to get you to the finals. But it won't be enough if you don't win a single one of the matches in Glynda's class."

Jaune looked at Pyrrha a bit guiltily. "I mean, maybe, but I figured with some lu…"

I gave him a solid smack on the back of his armor and he stumbled forward.

"Luck is not your friend, Jaune. Luck is not anybody's friend. It's just probability of certain outcomes that affect your life based on the action and inactions of the people around you. The only place you should rely on luck is in video games, and even then it isn't actually random."

I let out a breath as I stared at him, holding my sword out onto his chest.

"Don't you ever rely on luck to win your battles Jaune, because all that will do is destroy your ability to take your own initiative."

"Ume, you should calm down, he didn't mean..."

"It doesn't matter what you mean to do, Pyrrha." I turned towards her. "It doesn't matter what you mean to do, what you intend to do, or what you plan to do. All that matters is what you do, because it is in action that we shape the world around us."

She looked back at me, blinking her green eyes a bit confused and surprised. Gosh, how could someone so seasoned be so damn ignorant?

"Then what does you hitting me do?" Jaune said this time. He wasn't angry, in fact his voice was level, his aura calm. "You, you wouldn't just hit me because you're mad."

Letting out a sigh, I took a breath in. This close to me I could feel it, the steady light that came off him. He wasn't angry at me, though he should have been. Damn it, I'd gotten flustered over nothing, needed to breath, needed to calm down and probably needed to talk.

"Yes, it has nothing to do with that. It's a training technique, one that you use to train combat reflexes and force someone to adapt, through pain." I held my sword up, setting it on the palm of my false hand. "Pain is, well, it's a powerful motivator. When you suffer consequence for doing something wrong, your body reacts accordingly. It's a, well, rather archaic way to make someone change their style or train their body faster."

"Sounds barbaric, who would do something like that?" Pyrrha said, a little worried and a bit disgusted.

"My teacher." I said simply, looking at her.

"Oh," She looked down, looking just a bit guilty. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"No, you're right, it's a sucky way to teach someone and he's in fact a raging douchebag at his core. But,"

Breathe, no point in getting worked up. They just don't understand, how could they unless I tell them? Communicate, don't assume, that's what Kiriko says.

"Look, when I went to the academy, I learned swordsmanship the regular way, do forms, build up callouses, create rote memory and through sparring, and that's what I continued to do. I did it over six years and I was decent at it, but then." I looked down. "I lost my arm."

"And it upset your balance." Pyrrha winced at this. I nodded, it was good that she understood then.

"Yeah, it did, it upset my balance and my style. A lot of my blocking and defensive techniques required two arm swings. It left me almost entirely offensive and off balanced. I could compensate with other techniques, but it weakened my swordsmanship, which when I was tired was all I really had to defend myself."

"You're talking about your endurance." Jaune said this time.

Good, he noticed, I'd be disappointed if he hadn't. You should always evaluate the skills of the people around you.

"Yeah, doing techniques, it takes a lot out of me. If I need to last I need to rely on pure swordsmanship to do my battles." I looked at Jaune and nodded.

"Just like you'll have to, at least for now. That's why my teacher did it, why he forced me to change my style to compensate, through pain. It still took time, but with his help, I've gone further in one year than I got at the academy in four, and on my own in two."

Well, that and he's probably secretly a sadist. I'd never ruled that out entirely.

"I'm, I understand." He looked down at his sword and shield. "I, I don't want to hold anyone back. Even if it, it hurts."

He was nervous and fearful, even if I couldn't feel it I could see it as he got back into stance.

Pyrrha was still concerned. "Are you sure?"

"No, not really, but..." He looked at me, gauging my reaction and nodding. "If I can get better, then I'm willing to do it."

"It's not like I'm gonna torture you, worse you'll get is a few bruises."

I couldn't manage much more than that with a wooden sword without really going at him anyway. It wouldn't even do that much until his aura was depleted and he really did have a lot of it, which was a good thing.

"And Pyrrha will be here, because she knows shield forms better than I do."

She looked at me, then Jaune. "I don't like this, and if it doesn't work we should stop."

"I'm not an expert on this sort of thing, but I know it can work. That's something we can work with. Besides, it won't be the worst that happens to him."

"Oh," She looked at me.

"No, of course not, because tomorrow Jaune will start doing morning workouts with Nora."

At that I saw and felt Jaune's face really turn pale.

* * *

Pyrrha watched Jaune sit back after they finished the form again. It had been maybe his twentieth time doing it, but he kept at it even as Ume hit him when he went out of form. At first it was fine since his aura absorbed it, but after the first hour it depleted and didn't refresh enough to prevent her from hitting it. Pyrrha was certain that he probably had a good amount of bruising from it, but his form was improving. Though how much was the pain training and how much was natural skill was up for debate.

"I don't think I could do this every night." He said, breathing heavily as he sat there.

Reaching down, Pyrrha picked up a water bottle Ume had brought out during their first break and handed it to him. He took it and drank quickly, his face red and sweaty as he did, she couldn't help but ask.

"Are you okay, Jaune?"

"Sore, mostly, it reminds me of when I started lifting."

He handed her the bottle back before reaching down. He grabbed his hoodie and started to pull it and the armor up over his head. It might have been the sweat or static but the hoodie and armor came off, as did the shirt he had under it, showing his chest, which was slightly damp and glistening as it was exposed to air. Pyrrha glanced down, her cheeks a little pink as he finished the motion, though she lingered a few moments on his rather well sculpted figure that his slightly baggy clothing usually hid. He seemed a little confused as he spoke.

"Is there something…"

"Jaune, you're topless."

Ume said as she fiddled with a scroll. Jaune looked down and noticed himself, immediately looking down, which naturally drew Pyrrha's attention once more, that was all that was clearly.

"Oh, um"

Looking more closely there were several bruises and red marks where his armor bit into his skin when Ume hit his chest as well as several on his arms and wrists where Ume had hit his sword or shield arm. Jaune looked down at the red marks and frowned.

"That looks like it'll hurt tomorrow."

"Nah, your aura will heal it." Ume said, walking forward. "Even if it doesn't, I can help."

Walking forward, Ume reached over with her hand and lightly touched his chest with no hesitation or even a pause. A moment later his aura glowed just as bright as when Pyrrha first awakened it, veiling him in white for a moment as the red marks faded almost completely. Jaune looked a bit startled as he watched it himself before touching the spot testing it.

"What did you…"

"You're a healer." Pyrrha looked at Ume, a little surprised.

"I have some medical training. But I didn't actually heal him, I just sort of directed his aura to heal himself." She scratched her head.

"A healer?" Jaune blinked in confusion.

"It's a type of aura manipulation, it's said they can mend bones and treat disease with a touch." She'd never seen one before, but she'd heard of them. "But those capable of it are very rare."

"I'm actually really bad at both of those things, definitely takes longer than a touch." She said. "But I can fix bruises and close open wounds, at least on normal skin. Anyway, that isn't want's important here. Jaune, haven't you forgotten something?"

"I umm.." Jaune seemed to struggle to think about what it was.

"You have to call your family." Ume stated matter-of-factly.

"Now?"

He leaned forward to look at Ume. Pyrrha was again aware that he wasn't wearing a shirt with the way his muscles moved with the motion. She glanced to the side a little bit as they continued.

"Well, you could, or I could call them for you." She said, holding up the scroll she was messing with earlier.

Pyrrha looked at it, then Jaune, she knew he had forged his paperwork. He had told them, while it did explain things about him it didn't change that she wanted him as his partner. Still, his family was a different matter.

"Jaune's family, do they know ab…"

"No, and don't talk about that here."

She said, glancing around before she tossed Jaune the scroll and after a moment she made some more weird gestures and the world shimmered around them. Pyrrha glanced around as the world looked a bit like it was seen through slightly tilted glass.

"What is this?"

"Apparently it muffles sound, at least that's what Ume says." Jaune replied before turning to Ume. "You know Ume's kind of paranoid."

"You realize that if anybody hears us talk about this, you'll be expelled, right?" Ume said dryly. "Nevermind the fact that we aren't alone in this building, other people live here. It wouldn't take much for them to overhear something like this."

"I hadn't thought of that, this seemed like a pretty private place."

She'd come here to think more than once, it was usually pretty quiet, which was why she thought it a good thing. Still...

"But you're right about that, we wouldn't want this to get out or for someone to mishear about it and start spreading rumors."

She was well acquainted with how misheard information could turn into rumors. There were quite a few about herself back home. That was the problem with having the spotlight on you, people were always looking for information and if there was none they weren't afraid to make up their own.

"Anyway, off topic, call your parents."

Ume said to Jaune, more sternly this time. How she managed to sound so stern with her smaller stature was a mystery.

"Or I'll do it myself."

"What in the world would you even say?" He looked at Ume. "You don't know them."

"I know this has kept them up at night with worry. I know they've probably been pacing or searching, or asking around because they just don't know. I know that because I know how family, real family, works. You don't seem like the type to have been neglected."

Her voice was sharper. It was, well, it was true. Real family worried, Pyrrha knew her mother did, which was why she would call before competitions, and after. At least she did before the hospital visits. Jaune knew that as well, he looked down a bit more guilty and defeated.

"Oh, right." He let out a breath. "Alright, I'll call them. Though they'll probably be mad, they'll probably..."

Pyrrha leaned down and put an arm on his.

"I'm sure they'll be glad to see you. They're your family after all."

He smiled at her, a small awkward one as he picked up his scroll. He flicked through it for a moment before looking down.

"I guess I should probably put a shirt on before I call, huh."

"I'm sure it's nothing your mom hasn't seen before." Ume quipped. "I'm more concerned about them seeing Pyrrha, honestly."

"Me?" Pyrrha turned towards Ume. "Why?"

"You're famous, remember? And they not only don't know Jaune went to a hunter school, they really didn't want him to go to one either. So what will they think when they see a famous hunter in training with him?"

"Oh"  
That did deflate her a bit at the prospect. She had really wanted to talk to Jaune's mother, if it had come up. Maybe eventually meet his family. Maybe later. But that might not be a good idea if they were keeping this a secret from them. It, kind of hurt, it was a familiar hurt though, one she could push down as she slid away from Jaune, just out of the frame.

"I suppose that's true. But I'd like to stay for a little bit if you don't mind, Jaune."

"You can stay." He said. "After all, where would I be without you, Pyrrha?"

He said it with a smile as Ume handed him his t-shirt which he started to put on. Pyrrha didn't know if he saw the smile she gave him back but it felt brighter, as did her mood. He always did that, even when she did or said something awkward he put her back at ease, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Like she was normal.

She sat and watched him as he called his mom. She didn't see the expressions on the phone, but she heard the cries of surprise, then of joy, then of beratement all while Jaune tried to calm them down. She heard more voices, sisters maybe, and an older voice, a father. It sounded like a big happy family that Jaune came from. A normal one and someday she'd meet them she was sure, she was his partner, after all.

Maybe he'd meet her mother too.

* * *

 **Hey guys, busy last few weeks. Some of you know, I had to make stock and run a booth at the artist alley at Momocon, not that you'd recognize work from that here (I make jewelry, not prints or stories). Anyway, had this chapter half done for a little bit and finally finished it. Working on Sugar Plums, that'll be out soon too.**

 **Reviews please.**


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

I got to Glynda's office at 7:45 after I'd gathered up all the clothing for today's laundry run. I'd seen Team JNPR twice during that time: the first was when I got their laundry, the second was on my way down while Nora was making Jaune and everyone else in the team run laps around the campus. Poor Jaune was already lagging behind the others, though I saw Pyrrha and Ren flinch when she yelled out "only twenty nine more laps to go".

Glynda's office was the same size as the other professors' though, like them, it had a different style altogether. Though the wood, number of windows and shape was the same, each room reflected their personality entirely. Professor Port's room was basically a giant display of stuff about grimms and photographs of him at exotic locations in front of downed animals posing like a big game hunter. Oobleck's office was full of books, maps and papers strewn and half hazardly pinned about in a mess of organized chaos. Compared to the two, Glynda's office looked positively normal, it was neat, organized, filled with filing cabinets and bookshelves and currently looked like an entire staff of ghosts was working nonstop through.

Glynda Goodwitch herself was sitting at her desk as papers and files flew around her, setting themselves into opening drawers, or putting themselves into piles. There was a book that went off the shelf and onto the desk, flickering a bit before going to a page. She herself sat at the desk, pen in hand as she went through more paperwork.

"God damn." I said with a half breath as she looked up.

"You're early." She said as the papers started to move back into neat piles around, drawers pushing themselves in. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I didn't announce myself. Habit, really. Most people who I walk in on usually already know I'm there."

"Really, you didn't make any noise when you came in otherwise, another technique of yours?" She said as she looked up at me.

A curl of hair fell on her face at the movement, but it righted itself, pulling itself back into her tie.

"Nah, I just walk heel to toe to distribute my weight so I can control the amount of impacts my steps have on a surface to make it soundless. If I step on something I'm not expecting it can upset my balance and make a noise, but I'm pretty adept at adapting before that happens."

I pulled the door shut and moved to the side.

"Everything else is just discipline and observing: control your breathing, keep your clothing still, make sure that if you must make a noise you have something to keep in time with it. If you're good enough you can even do so in time with someone's heartbeat and they think they're alone." I shrugged my shoulders. "Not that I needed to do that with you, you looked pretty engrossed. Gotta say, I didn't know you had so much fine control."

"As unsettling as the fact that you're skilled in silent approach and tailing someone is, I should have you know that I have to be skilled enough if I wish to lift someone up. I could very well crush someone under my powers if I didn't train my control from day one." She stood up. "But that isn't what we should be discussing. What do you plan to do with Team CRDL today?"

Straight to the point then.

"I'm going to take them into Vale and they're gonna help do the laundry." I said plainly as I walked towards her desk.

"I see, and how do you plan on forcing them to do that?" She looked at me.

"I'm not." I said simply. "I'm gonna give them a choice, and they're gonna have to make it."

"What if they choose wrong?" She looked at me, her eyes a question.

"Then they'll deal with the consequences." I felt the apprehension come off of her in waves and I held up a hand. "I'm not gonna hurt them, Professor. Not physically or mentally. As Professor Ozpin said, they'll be my responsibility."

It settled her, but only a bit. She was still apprehensive, but it boiled down to slight worry.

"You should have another professor with you. This is the job for a teacher."

"If it makes you feel better, I've taught people things before in an official capacity." I replied.

"Really?" She sounded more skeptical.

"Yeah, really. Look, I know I'm young but back home, I occasionally taught music classes." I replied.

"Music classes?" She actually raised an eyebrow. "You play an instrument."

"I play several, mostly self taught, but I can read music too." Reaching into my sleeve I pulled out my guitar and adjusted it so my false hand was strutting. "I know lots of songs, it's usually how I relax."

"I didn't take you for the music type." She was a little less apprehensive, a little more interested. Not surprised, more interested.

"Well, I had to do something during the hospital stays."

There was only an instant before Glynda's mood shifted from interested to outright horrified. I blinked, looking up at the woman. Outwardly she was the same, but she was absolutely roiling with it. She didn't speak, just kept her eyes on me.

"Just, just kidding, I learned how to play at the academy not in th…"

The door opened and I didn't have to turn in time to see CRDL, I felt irritation flow off Cardin as he stepped in.

"What the he…"

"Mr. Winchester, you should watch your language in front of a minor."

Glynda spoke out, her voice concise and commanding. I don't know if it was habit on her part, but it was pretty ironic considering I didn't watch my language in front of anyone. Still, the distraction did break her mood as she turned towards the team.

Cardin almost backpedalled but righted himself before apologizing.

"What's she doing here?"

"Because of unforeseen circumstances I have been indisposed for today, so Miss Ume will be overseeing your detention."

Glynda said it coolly as she looked at them. Though it didn't dissuade Cardin's reaction.

"Her? What is this bullsh…"

The sound of the riding crop on Glynda's desk cut him off.

"Language Mr. Winchester, or did you forget you are a hunter and as such an example for others to follow?"

"But she's just a class auditor."

"Yes, but today she is an acting member of Beacon's staff, and you will treat her as such."

Glynda's eyes narrowed and the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees as she looked at team CRDL. They flinched back in fear as she spoke again.

"Is that clear?"

There was muttering from them as they looked at each other, but Cardin lost his will to argue as he just nodded.

"Good" Glynda said as she turned. "You will accompany Miss Ume into Vale then."

"After we head to you guys' room." I piped in.

"Why in the world would a pipsqu…" Cardin actually squawked a little bit as the book I'd thrown soared past his head and thumped onto the floor.

"Miss Ume" Glynda looked at me with a glare.

"Hey, I didn't hurt him." I said as I walked past him and picked up the book. "Anyway, I figured you guys would want to pick up your laundry. It's probably gotten pretty rancid after a month."

* * *

Team CRDL rode the bullhead into Vale mostly in silence. Mostly. Cardin kept snipping about their having to waste their day with, well, he used several names except her actual one. Ume had been something of a sore spot for Cardin since she first dismissed him and continued to do so with casual ease.

Most of the team didn't see the point in trying to go after her. Whomever she was, she was not normal if the way she could avoid their numerous attempts to prank her was any indication. Not that it dissuaded Cardin. In fact, it made him even more determined to get one up on her, at least once. He was nothing if not determined. It was what made him good at fighting grimm, he was the one who always led the charge.

But there was such thing as too much determination.

Dove glanced at Russel and Sky as they walked out of the bullhead, that had landed. Glynda had seen them to the port to make sure they got on with Ume, but the moment they landed and got off Cardin immediately jumped off and turned on her.

"So, we're in Vale, so what in the world are you gonna try to make us do?"

Their leader crossed his arms looking down at the girl, which wasn't very hard, not that she seemed perturbed in the least.

"Nothing." She responded in kind.

That seemed to put Cardin off, but it was Russel who responded.

"What?"

"I'm not going to make you do anything. I can't, after all, because today I'm gonna treat you like adults and give you a choice. Today that choice is you can either come with me to the cleaners and do your classmates' laundry, or you can just leave."

She gestured matter of factly.

Dove looked over at his teammates confused, certainly Cardin was, Sky just shrugged his shoulders as he turned away. Though Cardin was the one to respond.

"You're just gonna let us walk away."

"If you want" She said as she turned away and started to walk along with the Beacon personnel that had ridden with them. "As I said, I can't make you do anything."

Cardin actually smiled and turned away, walking in the opposite direction. Russel started the chuckle as Sky reached into his pocket and pulled out.

"Um, guys, did you see my scroll?"

There was a pause as the three of them looked at him as he started searching his pockets. It was at that time Dove felt around himself and found he was missing a familiar weight in his own pockets, but that wasn't all.

"What the hell, my wallet's missing too!"

Sky said as he started to turn out his pockets, Russel was doing the same, as was Cardin. Dove already knew both of his were gone. Looking around, he turned to look into the cabin of the bullhead, had it fallen out? But then, Russel's wouldn't have normally, his was on a chain. Glancing at his teammate with the green mohawk he noticed the chain and the wallet were both gone. What the hell? They couldn't have all left their scrolls and their wallets behind. Cardin had locked their door with his scroll hadn't he, they could…

"You little thief!"

Cardin had apparently come to a conclusion more quickly as he started dashing down the road at Ume.

She didn't turn to face him, even as he ran up he reached out to grab her and she sidestepped him.

"Give it back!" He yelled at her.

"Why?" Her tone was even as the others caught up.

"What the hell do you mean? Because, those are our things, our wallets, our scrolls."

"Are they?" She looked at him, then the rest of them. "Who paid for them, you or your parents? I know you use Beacon issue scrolls, those are paid for by the school. They don't belong to you at all. The wallets you carry, do they have your money in them, or your parents' money?"

"It doesn't matter, you can't just…"

"This is all a result of your choice."

"What?" Cardin replied.

"I'm treating you like adults. If an adult is given a job they can choose to either do the job, or not do the job. If they don't do the job, they don't have wallets because they don't have money. They don't have scrolls because they can't pay for them. So now you know the consequences of your actions, what will you choose to do?"

"You can't do this." He was turning red.

"Do what? You have no proof I've done anything. You just know that your things are missing." She said.

"Why you!"

He actually reached out and grabbed onto her clothing and she just, ducked out of it. The magenta cloth unraveled into a square that Cardin held out showing nothing. Dove walked forward to look at it, then at Ume, who looked more like a mummy than a little girl.

"Do you see any scrolls or wallets in there?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

"I know you took them." He said, throwing the cloth to the ground. The girl just picked it up, gave it a shake and wrapped it around her.

"No, you think I took them." She said before turning around. "But that's no concern of mine, if you're happy with your choice, go on with your day. Unless you want to come and do the laundry. Then maybe I'll help you locate your things."

She started walking to catch up with the staff.

Dove looked at the others as Russel started walking forward. Shrugging his shoulders he moved to follow, as did Sky.

"What are you guys doing?!" Cardin yelled out.

"We can't go back to Beacon without our scrolls. They probably wouldn't even let us into the bullhead." Russel said.

"But she, she…" He looked at the bullhead.

"She's got us by the balls." Russel responded.

"Yeah, let's just get this over with."

It was Sky this time who spoke. Dove nodded in agreement. It wasn't like this was the first time they did laundry, after the first two weeks their clothes really did get rank so they had to go into the city before to do laundry. Well, he and Sky did at least.

Dove watched as they walked away and Cardin stood there shaking as he started walking forward. Well, at least they wouldn't have to drag him along.

The laundromat wasn't far from the bullhead station. In fact, it was a pretty normal building, though no one else seemed to be there. When they entered Dove noticed a sign that said it was reserved. He didn't know someone could reserve a laundromat but then they'd need a lot of machines if they were doing laundry.

The class auditor was already inside and somehow filling several carts with bags of clothing. They were standard laundry bags with the names of teams on them. Some of the staff were taking some bags away, but she gestured for them to come closer to a full bin.

"They do laundry one team at a time to make sure nothing gets mixed up and sent to the wrong room. You'll start with this team." She set the bags on a table. "First thing is to sort out the colors from the whites."

"They hell we do that for?" Cardin walked forward.

Ume rolled her eyes.

"So the colors don't wash off onto the whites."

She said it as she pulled up a chair and pulled a book out from her sleeve. Which contradicted her not having anything on her originally when Cardin took her clothing. How the hell did she do that anyway? Was it a semblance?

Dove shook his head and let out a sigh as he picked up a bag and emptied it out. He started moving the clothing about. There were a few uniforms in his bag, some jeans, socks... The socks sort of scattered, a few fell on the floor and he grunted as he moved to pick them up. The auditor beat him to it.

"Oops, don't want to lose those."

She picked up a few of them and set them on the counter before finding a pair of black socks and pulling a bag of safety pins out of her sleeve. She took one out and pinned socks together at the top and set it on the table.

"There, now they won't get separated."

Dove raised an eyebrow, that was pretty handy actually. He knew he could never find his socks after he washed them. Looking at the bag he elbowed Sky and showed him and the longer haired boy nodded as they started to pin the socks together.

They continued sorting the clothing. When they finished sorting the colors Ume examined the piles and removed the jeans and underwear to be run in separate loads. She then showed them to the washing machines, opened them up and handed them some buckets and a rag.

"Alright, each of you clean out a machine."

"What?" That was Sky this time. "What does that have to do with laundry?"

"This is a public laundromat, dozens of people use these machines every week. There's no telling what type of detergent the machines have. It could very well set off a student's allergy if an unfriendly detergent is in there, or if any bleach is there it could cause white streaks on their clothing." She held up the cloth. "Look, you'll only have to do it now, we'll be reusing these and four other machines."

She opened the door and dipped the cloth in soapy water and almost bodily crawled into the enclosed space and started rubbing the sides.

"See all you have to d…."

There was a slam as Cardin closed the machine lid to push the little girl into the enclosed machine, looking at her prone form for a moment before turning towards them.

Dove blinked and looked at Sky, who was slightly snickering. Russel was straight up laughing. Cardin crossed his arms.

"Serves her ri…"

"You really need to be more original than that."

The four of them turned immediately to see Ume sitting on the folding table leaning forward with the rag in her hand.

"Seriously, it didn't work with the lockers, why did you think it would work now?"

With a short jump she landed back on the floor and opened the door as smoke poured out of it.

"But, but I saw you." He looked at her as she reached in and pulled a bag of stuffing out of the machine.

"Yes, yes, you attempted to fool your supervisor. Here's another thing about being an adult, just because you've thought you've gotten away with something, doesn't mean you have, nor that there won't be repercussions. Whatever job you're given, there's a certain amount of trust put in your ability to act correctly and be professional. If you pulled that shit off in the real world, you'd be fired." She let out a sigh. "Instead, you'll be unfortunately skipping breakfast today. Which is a shame, because they brought muffins."

"You were going to feed us." Sky asked this time.

"What, of course you're going to be fed, this is going to take all day to do. Though of course Mr. Winchester will be missing breakfast because of his actions."

Dove turned to look at Cardin, who was red again.

"You can't…."

"There you go making assumptions about what I can and cannot do. Mr. Winchester, I don't have to feed you, this is a detention. All I have to do is occupy you. You did something wrong, you get a consequence." She turned to the rest of them. "As will the rest of you if you do something you know you shouldn't."

She picked the rag off the table and held it out to Cardin. "Now you should get to cleaning then, shouldn't you?"

Cardin grit his teeth and snatched the rag out of Ume's hands as the rest of them grabbed their own and washed the inside of the machines.

After they did that Ume took out some masking tape labeling each one, one was whites, one was colors, one was underwear and the last was jeans. She then went through the piles, unbuttoned all the shirts and separated all the clothing with stains and used a cloth to put stain remover on each one. After that they put them in the separate machines and she showed them the settings and the amount of detergent to use.

Dove never knew that laundry was that complicated, but then he had lived at home with his mom and she usually did his. It was much the same with the rest of his team.

They did this with the first load before getting breakfast. As Ume said, it was muffins. Most of the staff grabbed some, but Ume had told them not to give Cardin any. Though Sky grabbed some and offered it to Cardin on the sly their leader rejected it as he eyed Ume.

Dove let out a sigh as he ate his own muffin. They hadn't been able to eat before they'd left because the cafeteria didn't open until ten on the weekends. Cardin would be even grumpier on an empty stomach, but he still refused. Dove didn't think he'd make trouble if it meant he'd have to keep working without food. It didn't seem much of a punishment, except all four of them were active teenage boys. None of them thought they'd stay long enough to miss a meal, but apparently they were. If they were staying long enough to get lunch they might as well go along with it.

After they finished eating they started sorting another team's laundry while the first load still ran. While they did, Russel found a particular pair of painties and a bra in his pile.

"Check this out." He held it up for the others to see. "I wonder who's been hiding this under their uniform. I wonder if I…"

"If you steal that, you're paying for it." Ume said it absently as she sat with her book.

"What?"

"I said if you steal that, you're paying for it." She said as she closed her book and grabbed a mess bag off a side pile and walked over and grabbed the bra with her hand. "Yep, that's got an underwire."

She held up the bag.

"If it has straps, an underwire or anything like that toss it in one of these before you put it in the wash. Also" She flipped the bra and found a white tag. "Alright, it's not handwash only, but you should check the tags just in case. There's a sink for that over there."

"Why would we hand wash someone's underwear?" Cardin asked.

"Because those labels are there to keep you from damaging it. If you damage any of the clothing, by the way, you're also paying for it." She replied.

"What do you mean you're paying for it, you can't make us pay for this."

"No, I cannot. I can, however have the expenses deducted from the accounts you use for lunch. Which if you damage underwear like that, assuming it's name brand, will cost you two or three meals." She set the bra on the table.

"What gives you the authority…"

"Beacon does. Remember, I'm staff today. If you break equipment at Beacon on purpose, you're liable for it. It's in your student handbook. I'm counting other students' clothing as the same." She replied as she sat back down and opened her book again. "But it shouldn't be a problem, just follow what I showed you and take things slow and it'll be fine."

Russel looked at the underwear again and held it up. "Who'd want to know how to clean this stuff anyway?"

"Any man who wants to have a girlfriend in the future." Ume said.

"I wouldn't do my girlfriend's laundry." Cardin said.

Ume snorted. "Then you better hope she's a slob, because otherwise you won't keep one for very long."

"The hell would you know about that, you're like ten."

"Thirteen, and I know a lot. I have older siblings who have had such relationships, after all." She said as she held the book over her knees. "And the thing about relationships, especially one where you plan to live with someone is that it's give and take. You can think you're some great stud that any girl will fall for, but unless you want to spend your life as a bachelor you might want to learn some basic life skills. It's another part of being an adult, while you can live in squaller just fine on your own, most women won't want that."

She held up her book. "You don't have to be a neat freak, but unless you want to marry your mom, you should learn how to clean up after yourself and, if you need, to clean after her. After all, if you can take the slack off of her by doing your own cooking and cleaning, it'll give whatever romantic partner you have time and energy for other things."

Dove blinked at Russel and the others. That made sense he supposed, he knew his dad occasionally cooked meals and did laundry. Not his mom's laundry, but he did clean sheets and towels. He'd never asked about it, but they didn't seem to talk about it much. Given, he was the one who did the dishes when they asked.

They continued sorting and changing out the laundry. They sorted while things washed, when the wash was done they put them in the dryer, separating the things that needed to be dried and putting them in a hanging dryer, when things were done drying Ume showed them how to fold the clothing and they were put back into the clean bags. Some of the clothing was dry clean only, and that was just passed along to the other workers in separate bags. They did this over and over again for a few hours, only stopping for lunch, when Ume ordered them two large pizzas to share, and their choice of drink. The small girl got her own large pizza, which to Dove's astonishment she finished by herself.

When they were done putting in the last load it was already sunset and the four of them were tired, mentally more than anything. Dove particularly didn't know how someone could have that much laundry. It seemed like they did their entire year's laundry, while the rest of the staff was doing bedding and sheets. When it was over Ume handed over their wallets and scrolls, as well as four thousand lien* each.

"You're paying us?" Sky looked at the money.

"The school is. Given, that's below normal rate. But this is way above a normal detention, since most detentions are only about two hours and I kept you for about ten. But yeah, you did a good job didn't you, so you get paid." She smiled at them, though Cardin still sulked as he took the money, his scroll and wallet. "Anyway, you can do what you want for the rest of the day. Because as adults you can do whatever you want with the money you earned. Just be sure to head back to the bullheads before 2am, I'm still responsible while you're here so I'll call around then."

"Whatever." Cardin said, he didn't really seem to put much energy in it as he left the laundromat. His team followed and they went out into the street.

"Come on, I need a drink."

"Well, we got some money for a club, that's something." Russel said as he stretched out his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, all we had to do was be at the beck and call of that tiny tyrant." Cardin growled out and Russel shut up as they walked in silence.

Honestly Dove didn't think she had really been a tyrant. Sure, she basically forced them to do the work, but when they were doing it she hadn't berated or treated them like they were stupid. She never told them to do anything without a reason and she mostly let them do their own thing, only stopping them if they needed to be corrected. They'd made jokes, talked, laughed, she didn't discourage it. She only ever stopped them when one or two of them tried to prank her or did something that might have wasted detergent. Dove had seen teachers with less patience than she had with them today. But then, she did basically smack Cardin down when he tried to shove her into the washing machine.

Though of course there was the point of how she managed to get to the table when they saw him shove her in. It was just like with the locker, Cardin swore he'd felt himself solidly push her in before he launched it, but she just appeared behind him. Still, Dove knew better than to talk about it. If Cardin was not in the mood to go over it, then that was fine.

At least until they started drinking.

The first club wasn't too bad, they just did what they normally did. Hung out, got some drinks, danced a bit on the floor. Well, most of them did, Cardin wasn't kidding when he said he was going to drink. He was a big guy and used to going out, but by the third club he could barely walk. While this wasn't the first time it had happened, it did make moving him around harder.

"Hey man, maybe we should go get some coffee." Sky said as they stumbled through the streets. Dove and him were both holding Cardin straight as they walked.

"I'm still okay, gonna drink like a fucking adult."He spat out as they moved down to the next club.

It was a little further out, the outside looking like a brownstone, but they knew it was a pretty nice place. Though it had been closed recently for renovations, it was hopping now while people were still heading in. Cardin headed straight to the bar and Dove went with him as Russel and Sky went towards the dance floor to try and pick up some girls. Dove looked at Cardin's order and picked up the menu. The food was overpriced, but anything to get something in Cardin's stomach to absorb the alcohol was worth it. If there was anything worse than a drunk Cardin, it was a hungover Cardin.

As Dove was pointing out the reuben sandwich to the bartender to get for Cardin two girls sat a seat or two down. Dove glanced their way, they were twins, pretty and in white and red outfits. Maybe he'd approach one of them later. If Russel didn't try to get at them first. Honestly Russel was more aggressive when it came to girls, right now Dove was just the designated not smashed person for the night.

Still, as he moved to finish ordering his food he heard Cardin yell out.

"What did you say?!"

"Just saying you smell like bleach." It was the girl in red who spoke.

"You do, you might want to try a different cologne."

He glared at the girls and moved to say something, but Dove grabbed his shoulder. Cardin looked back at him and stared at him before leaning on the counter. That was until he heard giggling.

"What was that?" He turned towards them.

"Just wondering if you could help us get a discount for dry cleaning later." The girl in white said with a smile, her twin giggling.

"I don't work for a dry cleaner." Cardin said. "I'd…."

"Woah, Cardin calm down." Russel had returned to the bar. "They're just having fun, aren't you, girls?"

The smaller boy gave the two of them a smile. "We were just doing some laundry earlier today, you know how it is, got to keep things clean."

"We have people for that." The girl in red said.

"Do you now" Russel leaned on the counter "Well, truthfully we usually have the same. But there was a bit of an incident at the Beacon laundry room, so you know, had to do what needed to be done."

"Oh, you're Beacon boys then?" The girl in red said in a sultry voice. "Well, that does change things, doesn't it?"

Dove saw her hold up a hand looking like she was reaching for Russel. It only took a moment for Cardin to grab Russel and pull him back. Russel staggered for a moment at the sudden shift in position.

"What the hell Car…"

"Look" Their leader growled out. Even half drunk he had seen the red blades on the girl's glove that were hidden until she moved her hand from under the counter. "What are you playing at?"

"What indeed, you boys should hurry on out of here, your kind aren't welcome here."

It wasn't the girl who said it, but instead a man. He was wearing black slacks, a white shirt and a black vest with red sunglasses and black hair that went down his face to a trimmed beard and mustache.

"The hell are you? What do you get pulling a weapon on my teammate?"

Cardin stood off the stool, he was bigger and taller than the man, but the man in black didn't seem perturbed.

"The owner, and as I said. You aren't welcome, now get your team and get out."

"Aren't welcome, we just got here." Russel said from the side.

"Doesn't matter, get out or we're gonna throw you out, we don't nee..." There was a slam as Cardin pounded his fist on the bar.

"The hell you think you are, telling us what to do."

Uh oh. That was... well, that was bad. Dove reached forward to try and grab Cardin, but he shrugged him off. Cardin was physically the strongest of them, they couldn't take him down unless they all worked together to hold him back. He'd been simmering all day with the detention, the only thing keeping him in line was the fact that he knew he'd get no sympathy beating up the class auditor. She was a tiny helpless civilian and there were laws about what happened if a hunter hurt someone, they were even more harsh if they were a kid.

But that didn't mean the anger went away.

"Look, I just reopened after one of you Beacon students wrecked my bar the first time. Now get out before I throw you…"

That was it. Cardin's hand shot out and grabbed the guy by the shirt, hoisting him in the air. It didn't last long, as from the side a pair of claws slashed up Cardin's chest. His aura flared but he pushed backwards as he dropped the club owner.

"Hey!" Russel said pulling Cardin back and jumping forward to punch the red girl, only to get a heel to the gut as the girl in white stepped forward.

"Melanie, these boys don't seem to want to back down. Want to have some fun with them?" The girl in red with the claws took a ready position.

"I think so, Militia."

The two of them took a position as men in black started to go around them. Dove blinked, looking at the entourage before looking at the owner, who was adjusting his shirt.

"Take it outside, we can't afford any other renovations." He said, walking away.

Cardin didn't seem to see anyone else though, as he moved to walk forward.

"Hey, I'm not done with you ye…"

Dove had to pull their leader back as a white heel slid across the space where his neck was. He looked at Cardin, then Russel, who was backing up. A moment later they slid out of the chair and away from the bar. They were not going to be back against the wall.

Even tipsy, Cardin started looking around and understood this was not a good situation. They didn't have their weapons or their armor. Even if they summoned it from Beacon they were still inside. As they pushed together and started to inch near the door the girls rushed forward. The girl in red slashed forward with her claws, which they pushed back, but the girl in white kicked forward, knocking Russel to the side. A moment later four men descended upon him. Cardin yelled out, running forward and shouldering one of the men off his teammate, but the twins descended on him. They were kicking him and knocking him back as more men grabbed onto him to try and restrain him. Dove felt one on his shoulder and grabbed the man, tossing him over his shoulder and rushing forward to try and get Cardin. However, the twins blocked his path, changing directions and pincering them. He ducked the first attack from red, but white attacked his legs and pushed him to the ground.

It was only a moment latter that Sky entered the scene, his scroll lit in his hand as he tried to punch one of the girls with his hands. The red girl slashed up his arm, knocking the scroll away as it skidded to the ground while the white girl knocked him down as well while they were dog piling each of them. Dove protected his face but couldn't help but glance at the glowing scroll as it was kicked by him. Rolling to kick out the feet of his assailant he grabbed one of them and tried to bring them down.

It worked, but only served to make them pile on top of him as he tried to get away. He struggled, but it seemed like it wasn't going to work. They were varying degrees of drunk, unarmed and mentally fatigued. Even if they weren't, these guys were determined to get them out. Bruised and hurt, he felt arms grab him by the shoulder and start to drag him out.

With the clearing of the legs he could see the others having much the same. The twin girls following as they were dragged out of the club onto the street. Dove was almost relieved to see it. It sucked, but they could just…

Cardin cried out and he turned to see him laying on the pavement as the girl in white dug the heel of what looked like her very sharp stiletto into his chest.

"What do you think, Militia? Should we given him some scars for threatening Junior?"

"Not there, maybe somewhere more visible." The girl in red leaned down.

"Maybe he…" She didn't finish her words as they were drowned out.

Everything was drowned out, really, as the wind picked up to a near deafening sound. It tore over them, and into them, the two of them staggering backwards while the rest of the men in black were knocked down completely and to their knees.

Dove had to shield his eyes from the dust as it rose up, but it was only a few moments before the wind, as strong as it was, died down and words could be made out.

"-ell are you?!"

It was the girl in white who was speaking. Dove rose his head to look at her, but found it wasn't just her and the girl in red standing over Cardin.

A full head shorter, pink dress flaring around her and standing with her hand on a wooden shaft stood the class auditor facing away from him. He couldn't see her expression, but he could hear the chill in her voice as she spoke.

"Today, I'm a member of Beacon staff." It wasn't a tone he'd even imagine to sound so serious at such a high pitch, but he could imagine the glare as she spoke again. "And these are my students."

* * *

 ***I'm treating lien as the same exchange rate as yen, which is roughly (not exactly, but roughly) 1 lien equals 1 cents. So four thousand lien would be about forty dollars USD.**


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Two girls with unlocked auras, about twenty or so guards without, and four downed Beacon students. The hell these guys do to stir this up?

Honestly, it didn't matter. When I called Sky he'd told me which club they were at and the fighting had started immediately afterwards. Whatever they had done couldn't have elicited such a response.

"Beacon staff? You?" The girl in white looked at me, equal parts confusion and surprise.

"Doesn't matter what you think, back down." I said simply, fixing my best glare onto the girls. "This doesn't hav…."

There was a gasp of pain that I could feel, then a thump. Turning my head I saw the foot of one of the men retracting from Cardin's prone form.

I heard the bones crack as I rammed into him, he shot backwards into three other guys, bowling them over like dominoes.

I turned instantly, my sword coming up to catch the claws. I batted them aside as the kick came to try and take my head off. Though if they were expecting me to back off they had another thing coming.

I ducked under the white girl, who did a spin and attempted to get another kick in before I used a burst of wind to collide low, shouldering into her stationary leg. She squawked out as I attacked her source of balance, tumbling to the ground as the claw girl tried to swipe down my back.

I turned and blocked her not with my sword, but with my sleeve. I brought my hand up, catching her claws on the inside of my baggy sleeve and then twisting my wrist around them, wrapping them in pink fabric as I grabbed her wrist with my right hand my right hand. I had to drop my sword to complete the action, but that was my advantage, and her disadvantage.

Attached weapons like claws had a lot of advantages, it freed up your hands to do other things like make seals, it was more naturally intuitive to use them for strikes since it was more an extension of your arm and it was faster than a weapon with a longer reach.

But if someone managed to catch or tangle up your attached weapon, you were caught with them.

She tried to struggle her claws out, maybe she expected them to cut the fabric of my sleeve. Hah! A jinchuuriki couldn't cut a hundred proof fabric on an active ninja using it, this red clad teenager didn't have a chance.

She tried to retaliate a moment after she realized she couldn't get her claws free by attacking me with her other claws. I spun at that moment, pulling her around me and into the attack her twin launched to try and get her free. I let the red girl go and the two went down in a tangle of limbs. The moment I wasn't engaged with them four guys tried to attack me at once. I guess they had enough sense not to get in the twins' way, but not enough sense to not go after me.

The first swung at me with an axe, I went under the swing and pushed a hand on his chest, blowing him backwards with a short gust before dropping to the ground at the next guy, who had a cleaver. I rolled out of the way grabbing my sword and building up chakra. The third guy came at me with a pipe as the fourth tried to get a kick in but I jumped up and to a free spot behind them as more men in black tried to get closer.

"(Wind Release: Whirlwind)"

I spun on the spot, sending another gust of wind out of my blade in a controlled burst. It wasn't a cutting wind, just a pushing one. Without aura a cutting wind may have killed them. The jutsu did its job and they were blown back and down giving me more room.

I took a breath as I sheathed my blade and assessed the area when I heard it.

"Stop!"

A man dressed like a bartender stood holding what looked like a bazooka was at the entrance. He couldn't think to use that here with so many of his downed men. As I looked closer, though, that wasn't it. He held the barrel not two feet from Russel, who was lying unconscious at his feet.

"Don't ma…"

I was at his side a moment later, my sword glowing with my chakra as I cut up the base of the cannon, stopping my blade just short of reaching the man's chin. A moment later physics caught up with us and the metal of the broken weapon faltered while the barrel just fell off along with several mechanisms. I let it fall as I held my still glowing blade just under the man's chin. There was a flare of fear in his aura as I stared up at him.

"I don't know what happened here, I don't know what they did, but it does not deserve this amount of force."

"I, I… I just wanted to keep my club from being wrecked."

"Your club, good." I said with a smile. "That means you can call this off. Tell your muscle and your twins to go inside, tell them to forget we were here and let us be on our way."

"Why would I…"

"Ah, ah, you saw what my sword did to your weapon. Even with aura, I don't think you'd survive me severing your carotid artery."

I demonstrated this by holding the blade not near the adams apple under the chin where most people cut throats in the movies, but instead up to the side, between the ear and the chin where that artery actually was.

I could feel his churning fear and anger. He wanted to fight back, he wanted to make us pay, but he also wanted to live. He might have thought I was bluffing, that I wouldn't do it. He looked down at me, met my eyes.

And gulped.

"Everyone, go inside, shoo." He tried to sound sure of himself, but only halfway managed it.

"But Junior." It was a feminine voice, the girl in red.

"Go, they're out, they're leaving, just, go." He said.

"Yes, please." I said before turning. "And a scroll was dropped during the battle, could you retrieve it? Shouldn't be too hard to find, it's a Beacon issued scroll."

"You little..." That was the girl in white.

"Do it, Melanie." Junior barked back, his anger growing.

The girl looked at him, then me, still apprehensive but walking inside with the thugs that were still conscious and moving those who weren't. When the girl in white came back with the phone I had her put it in the ground then go back inside. It was only then I lowered my sword from Junior. And thank god, I was already tired after the whirlwind, holding a flow for that long was draining, not that I could show that. I pulled my sword back and sheathed it before looking at Junior.

"So, did they break anything?"

He seemed shocked at the question.

"What?"

"Did they break anything? Did they do something inappropriate? Why did you throw them out?"

I said, this time gesturing to Team CRDL, who were still on the ground. I knew they were alive. Hurt, but alive, I could feel their aura and with a quick amplification could hear their breathing and heartbeats both of which was steady.

"Yes, they broke the ba…"

"Don't lie." I said sharply. I could feel the nervousness in him, the jitter of someone making something up. "Did they actually deserve this?"

"I asked them to leave, they didn't leave. It's my rig…"

I punched him in the gut, a gasp of air escaped him as he went down to one knee. When he did I grabbed his chin and held it to my level.

"So you're telling me you beat up a bunch of students and one of your bodyguards was trying to permanently scar them because they refused to leave your club after doing nothing."

He looked at me in the eyes, his fear building.

"They, they're Beacon students. A Beacon student wrecked my club a few weeks ago. I was just trying to prevent trouble."

"This was a preventive measure, huh, you just throw students out onto the street after beating them up to prevent trouble. What do you call me then?" I said with a hiss as I stared at him for a moment then pushed him away as I took a step back looking down.

"Leave," I said, my voice less a growl and more tired. "Leave, you now owe me a favor."

"A, a favor, why…."

I knocked into him, pushing him to the ground. My knees were on his chest, with both my hands wrapped around his neck as I banged his head against the pavement. His aura flared but he felt the impact as it knocked his red sunglasses askew.

"Because I didn't kill you." My growl returned full force as I stared into his eyes. "Know that the only reason you and your matching spice girls aren't dead is because you didn't seriously injure my students. But don't think for a second that I would lose an ounce of sleep ridding the world of another idiot like you who causes excess harm for no purpose."

He stared at me for a moment, then nodded. I let go and stepped off him, giving him room to stand up and run away, back into his club. I watched him for a minute or two to see if there was any reprisal, but it looked like they were just going away.

Good, because honestly I don't think I could bluff my way through another battle.

Thank god he was pretty weak willed, his aura was mostly full. If he actually fought me he might have overpowered me since I wouldn't have really gone for a kill. Killing someone, even in self defense would bring too much of the wrong type of attention. Letting out a sigh, I leaned down and checked on Russel.

He was bruised, he had a crack in one of his arm bones, but wasn't otherwise seriously hurt. I helped his aura along and he would soon regain consciousness. Cardin was a worse case, he had some cracked ribs and a broken arm. He also had a ton of alcohol in his system, Russel had a few drinks in him, but damn, he had to have a pretty high tolerance if he'd had this much to drink and could still walk. They were harder on him too, I started healing him but didn't wake him. It would be better that way, since he'd only be in more pain if I did. His aura would take care of it by the morning with the jump start I gave him.

I moved over to Dove and found that unlike his teammates, he was still conscious. The large brown haired boy was just staring at me as I walked forward and placed a hand on him.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded but winced as he moved. I leaned down and did a diagnostic. He stared as his aura glowed as the healing process started. He was more strained than anything else, a bruised bone here or there but no breaks. It was good they had aura, it had prevented the beating from causing anything serious.

"Russel will wake up after a minute or two, I might be able to wake Sky too, which is good. Someone's gonna have to carry Cardin cause he's out."

The boy watched his aura glow and the bruises recede before staring at me with an open mouth. Only one word escaped it, honestly I think it was the first word I'd ever heard him say. He was a quiet boy, I didn't know he even could speak.

"How?" There was confusion, and awe, and just a little bit of fear.

"I trained, I trained a lot really and got into fights." I let out a sigh. "And I mean, a lot of fights."

Standing up, I held out my hand and he grabbed it. Leaning back I helped the boy to his feet as he looked around, at himself, and at the others and spoke again. It was one word but I got the meaning again.

"Why?"

This time I smiled. "Because I'm an adult."

I walked over to Sky and leaned down to check him and start his healing. He was the least worse off.

"As I said, you guys are my responsibility today, so of course I came when you were in trouble. That's what an adult does."

He seemed confused at this, his hand on the back of his head as he looked at me. Confused, astonish and a little bit afraid.

"You think I wouldn't have come because I don't like you guys. Honestly, I'm not that petty. Part of being an adult is being responsible for those you work with. It doesn't matter if you don't like them, or if they've been mean to you in the past. You still have to work with them and you still have to help if something happens or if they mess up. Personal feelings like that, they shouldn't get in the way of doing your job, whatever that is." I looked up at him as I finished healing Sky.

"Besides, who would I be, if I let students under my protection be bullied?"

This time the emotion that came off him was shame, shame and embarrassment. I suppose that meant he was pretty self aware of the situation. They had just been bullied after all, and bullied hard for a reason that had nothing to do with them personally just because of their association with Beacon. Though it had been more physical than mental, that's what it boiled down to. They'd never done anything like that to me, whether it was self restraint or fear of punishment, or a mixture of both, they never went at me with the intent of actual harm.

They probably hadn't meant to harm Velvet either, but they never should have grabbed her like that either. Maybe it was just curiosity, or maybe they didn't know better. But that was punished, in more ways than one, I could only hope they would change.

I couldn't force them to, but I could hope they might.

I stood up and walked back over to Russel, who was just regaining consciousness. I could feel his confusion at waking, I felt a flicker of the same from Sky. I looked up at Dove again, then at Cardin.

"Alright, let's get him up. It's late, and if we don't hurry we'll miss the last bullhead back to Beacon."

* * *

Professor Oobleck examined the small redheaded girl as she sat herself across from him filling in paperwork. She let out a deep yawn leaning back into her chair. She paused, looking at his cup.

"You think I could get some of that?"

"You mean coffee? Aren't you a little young for this?" He replied.

"Age is relative to experience, and relatively speaking I'm pretty much in my thirties." She replied as she continued writing.

"That doesn't surprise me as much as it should all things considered, but physically you're thirteen. Are you not afraid it'll stunt your growth?"

"Early childhood malnutrition beat it to the punch." He raised an eyebrow at that. "Or did you think the fact that I'm about ten inches under average was genetics?"

"I couldn't say, average heights tend to vary from region to region. I suppose nutrition is a deciding factor but for all I know the people of your area simply have more genetics for shorter people."

"Nope, I'm just tiny. Always have been, probably always will be. So, a bit of coffee isn't gonna change much."

She said as she spun the pen in her hand before she finished writing the report. Sliding it over Oobleck looked at it with a critical eye before glancing down.

"Your grammar is atrocious, I honestly expected you to have better sentence structure and spelling considering how articulate you are." He looked down.

"Spoken word are easier to pick up than written. Especially since I rarely have to write out things in this language. Which by the way, makes no damn sense." She replied.

"Oh?" He looked down. "I do admit our grammar and sentence structures do have some holdovers and fallacies that wouldn't make much sense to a non-native speaker. Though of course, this is to be expected as our language is one formed of several different fractured cultures forming together to make a single large culture that extends over four kingdoms. No one is sure exactly what the root language was originally, or how much it has changed. Most of the grammatical rules enforced in academia are fairly silly. Still, the fact that you can write at all considering the fact that this isn't your native language is quite impressive."

"I was taught a long time ago." She replied. "Though I guess a lot of the grammar lessons didn't stick, nevermind you guys have a million phono… no homophones which keep tripping me up."

"True, as I said it was a mixing of cultures that made our current tongue and as such similar sounding words are unavoidable. Is it the same in your culture?"

"There's some crossover. Mostly there's this thing where you can read either top to bottom, or left to right. Also there are several symbols that have different meanings, depending on how you pronounce them. It's mostly used in names though, since symbols that mean certain things can create different meanings for names." She replied. "Though my name actually doesn't have many meanings since it only uses one symbol."

"Really, how do you spell your name in your language?"

She grabbed a paper off the stack and wrote with the pen. The symbol she inscribed looked a bit like a pole with a roof outside a window to Oobleck's eye.

"That's actually a fairly complicated symbol, what does it translate to in our language?" He looked down at it, examining the lines.

"It means plum or plum tree. It could also mean something like plum blossom." She tapped her pen a bit. "Honestly it's a bit on the nose if you think about it."

"You think so? You don't look very plum like. Or does it have something to do with your culture's association to the fruit?"

Lots of different kingdoms had very different cultural symbols after all, though there was some crossover. Oobleck knew of a few different things, including colors and fruit that symbolized very different principles.

"Nothing like that, it's my hair." She grabbed some strands of her very dark red hair. "It's the exact same color of a satsuma plum. Though I didn't know that until I actually saw one, it's actually a type of tree that's not native to the region I was raised in, but instead one of the larger more temperate regions. I only found out while traveling when I passed through a marketplace out of country."

"I see, did you do a lot of traveling back home?" He replied.

She waved her hand a little to the side.

"Kind of. There's no form of air travel back at home so most travel is done purely overland, and motorized vehicles aren't very commonplace."

"Oh, but you had a truck." He said. "I believe it was one of the things that destroyed the washing machine."

"Your washing machine broke my truck." She replied in a deadpan. "And the reason I have one is because I'm one of the few people in my country who has any clue on how to fix the damn things if something goes wrong with them."

"Is that not common knowledge?" Oobleck inquired.

"If a bullhead broke down, would you know how to fix it?" She shot back.

"That is a good point. There are many technologies people take for granted without considering the implications about what would happen if they broke. It was the reason why we had no one on hand to fix the washing machines in the first place and thus had to order new ones to come over from Atlas. It is fortunate that they will be installed soon and this coming weekend we'll have our own facilities up and running again. Though that does make me wonder about what type of technology your country uses if such things are so rare. Especially if where you are from such knowledge is unique."

"I wouldn't say it's unique." She tapped her fingers. "More like most people where I live just don't bother with it. It's still all very new to them, so a lot of the older generation are super wary. It's different in the inland countries. But that's neither here nor there, how much more paperwork do we have to do?"

She finished filling out the form and passed it to Oobleck, who gave her a new one off the stack.

"Well, there is the reports we have to go through from the club, then the ones for you taking the students into the city for labor. That one should be easy enough, as it's already covered on standard waivers that students are liable to work as punishment or class assignment. The terms are pretty broad for that since it usually means normal missions."

"You guys weren't all that surprised when I told you that we got into a fight." She looked at him.

"If I had a hundred lien for every drunken brawl one of our students started I wouldn't have any problem funding my excavation trips." Oobleck rubbed his nose under his glasses. "Truthfully it's usually worse the first few weeks of school. Hunter students just starting a new life away from home, conveniently at the age where they can legally imbibe alcoholic beverages with ample unaccompanied free time to do so. It was bound to happen, it is just fortunate the circumstances of this one were actual self defense."

"Things were pretty rough when I got onto the scene." She said as she started going through the paperwork. "Can't believe they brought that many guys to fight."

"They probably deemed it necessary as Beacon students are trained fighters. Even drunk a coordinated team could take out dozens of civilians. Regardless, it is fortunate they restrained themselves enough so that no one was seriously injured. If there was any attempt from the attacked party to file assault or claim excess injury it'd be more of a hassle."

"Why is it that the drinking age is seventeen anyway?" She asked as she started skimming through the next form.

"What is the drinking age where you're from?" Oobleck replied as he started down his own paperwork. He checked her wording and was grateful he'd never have to read a paper written by her.

"It's twenty, technically. Though that's impossible to enforce." She stated.

"It's much the same here. Originally the drinking age was twenty one, but it was found that despite it being illegal for students out of primary schooling, especially hunter students, to purchase alcohol, they would acquire and imbibe such things in secret or at social gatherings. The fact that it was taboo increased how much they would drink and thus increased the risk of them suffering alcohol poisoning. And thus the age was lowered, making it more socially acceptable for them to do so at clubs where their drinking would be properly monitored and they would be cut off if they were past an acceptable limit. It also normalized the idea that drinking wasn't such a taboo thing to be done in excess."

"Gotcha," She replied. "So how many hunters are raging alcoholics?"

Oobleck raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you assuming that hunters are more prone to alcoholism?"

"Are you going to tell me they aren't?" She looked at him with a smirk. "You did just say that hunter students especially were a problem."

"Well, yes, given most hunter students are very fit and active, as well as tend to be rather headstrong, so likely to overestimate their abilities and their tolerance."

"You didn't answer my question." She pointed out.

Oobleck sighed. "Yes, there is a trend among some hunters to use alcohol to cope with their job. It is not one for the faint of heart and if one does not retire early, it is likely that a hunter will see losses both of innocent life or the life of comrades and drive them to such things. Though there is of course counseling required after traumatic incidents and therapy offered there will always be those who self medicate with alcohol. I shouldn't be surprised that you would try to look towards the darker side of the matter, Miss Ume."

The young girl let out a snort as she leaned on the desk with her pen.

"It's not that I just automatically assume the worst, professor. I just know too many people who have similar coping habits that I had to ask. In fact, one of the most brilliant people I've ever met is also a raging alcoholic and chronic gambler who only recently got off of what was something like a twenty year long bender."

Oobleck raised his eyebrows. "Twenty years? That is quite the accomplishment. I assume there was a prompt for such extreme behavior."

"Her fiancé died." The girl shook her head. "I don't know the details, but that along with what she saw of a war pushed her over the edge."

"That would explain it. I've seen what people do in grief and something so traumatic... it wouldn't be hard for someone to keep dwelling on it, even years later."

Oobleck took a breath in as he remembered his own team and the tragedy that tore them apart. Even though it had been so long ago, he still remembered the screaming and the explosions.

"Yeah, everyone has ghosts, I suppose." The girl in front of him sighed. "Okay, this is the last one, right?"

Oobleck took the form and let out a sigh. It was legible, barely, but it was done.

"For now, there may be more if there are any inquiries."

"Ugh, this is worse than filling out reports back home." She said, pushing on her chair. "I haven't even had breakfast yet."

"You should go ahead and go then, as I said. That's all for now Miss Ume, I'm sure we'll call you again if we need anything else."

"I might come by to talk again today." She paused before looking at him with a small smile. "I like talking to you."

"I do like the conversation, you are an inquisitive young woman, after all. I find your stories of your home very interesting myself."

It interested him a lot to know what type of culture could instill such a large amount of cynicism and brutal pragmatism into someone so young.

"Yeah, no one else seems to be. It boggles me just how, I don't know, uninquisitive everyone seems. I mean, other than a lot of the other things that I think people should question, it's pretty obvious I'm not actually a class auditor, but no one seems to question it. Hell, it's like no one seems to question my presence at all."

"People are usually more curious than they appear, but tend to restrain themselves out of fear of seeming rude. As for their accepting your presence, well, they are teenagers. They are by their nature very self-involved and anyone out of their immediate circle probably wouldn't cause enough interest for them to branch out and ask."

She seemed to think about that for a moment.

"I guess that's probably true. The only other person who really asks me about my life is Nora, but mostly she asks silly things. For the first few weeks she was convinced I was some sort of nobility who had fled for my life from a crumbling kingdom."

"Well, before the great war there were still states of nobility in the kingdoms, so such stories aren't as old and uncommon as you would think." Oobleck supplied.

"Yeah, but I'm a fighter. Nobody in nobility where I'm from would be anywhere near an actual battlefield." She shrugged her shoulders. "Unless that's different here."

"In some places yes, in fact, it is. One such person you are familiar with is descended from a line of nobility that distinguished themselves in battle."

"Oh, who?" Ume asked.

"Miss Schnee actually, the Schnee family name is a much older family line of warriors that can trace its roots back to the nobility that existed in Mantle before the last few wars happened."

"Really? Huh, I guess that explains partially why she acts a bit like a princess. Well, that, and her family is still insanely rich."

"Yes, hers is one of few noble houses that maintained its wealth by adapting to modern industry."

Oobleck was about to continue when there was a grumbling from the little girl in front of him.

"I should probably go get food. See you later then." She said, getting up.

"I look forward to it."

As the girl left Oobleck sorted the paperwork and stapled it together. Picking up his coffee, he headed out of his office and onto the green, then to the tower where the headmaster's office was. It wasn't a long walk, but one he took a few moments to look at in the calm of a Sunday afternoon. He spent a lot of time simply speeding from one thing to another, but to slow down for a moment to appreciate what he had here wasn't too bad.

Especially with what he lost.

It did not take long for him to see the headmaster at his desk, nor to see the video playing on his screen. It was not the best quality, taken from a street camera. There was no dialog and no close up shots, but the figure of the blur of pink and gusts of winds could have come from none other than the small girl he'd spent the morning with talking over paperwork.

"What do you think, Oobleck?"

"Of what in particular? I must say she seems quite the impressive fighter. Not only that, she's very observant and much more intelligent than someone her age would normally be."

"Does her report talk about this?" The white haired man turned to face him and his papers.

"The report says that Team CRDL got inebriated, then got into a fight, which she arrived near the end of."

Oobleck looked at the screen, following the blur of movement as she drew a weapon on one particular man in the crowd.

"I suppose in that sense it was accurate." Ozpin picked up his mug and took a sip. "I just finished speaking with them, most of them don't have much memory of the incident last night, having either been too drunk or unconscious during it."

"Most of them?" Oobleck looked at the screen again. "Do you worry they will start talking about this?"

"I don't believe Mr. Bronzewing will be speaking of it to anyone else, no. Though it will get around regardless, these sorts of things cannot be kept secret for long." Ozpin leaned forward on his desk as he pressed the keys. "It is what it is, the outcome is not the best, but under the circumstances it was unavoidable."

Oobleck looked at the headmaster, a man he'd worked under for some time, as he looked at the video. Ozpin was a great man, considered kind but also cunning and willing to use circumstances to tilt things in his favor. Though it did mean that sometimes he used people more strategically than empathically.

"What do you plan to do then?"

"For the moment, we'll try to keep things close to the chest. I don't think a well known information broker like Junior would want to spread around how easily he was beaten and intimidated by a little girl. Hopefully there won't be any retaliation on that front."

"But if there is?" Oobleck glanced at Ozpin, the concern in his voice growing a bit.

"We will shield her best as we can, it's the least we can do." He said. "Though I'm not entirely sure she may need it."

* * *

 **Not a long fight, but then Ume doesn't excell at those. Things haven't come fully to head yet, but we'll get around too it.**


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

There weren't that many arcades in Vale. In fact, there was only one.

And it was huge.

Vale didn't have much in terms horizontal space, but it was still supposed to be a self-supported city. People weren't supposed to want to leave Vale and those who visited obviously needed something to do. So whatever space they used for entertainment, they tended to build up rather than out. So at first glance the arcade looked like it was a small part of one building, but it turned out it was multiple floors that were all the same arcade. It didn't just have video games either. There were also bumper cars on one floor, a bowling alley, movie theatre, mini golf and laser tag on multiple different levels.

It was a much different set up than places in Mistral. Things in Mistral were built up or on the difficult terrain and generally very traditional in build. Pyrrha didn't mind the shift so much as they walked down the much flatter, much more developed streets. At the very least it wasn't the weaving steps or uphill climb that the mountainous buildings of Mistral was.

Honestly, Pyrrha didn't know if they had arcades in Mistral. If they had, they weren't in the district she grew up in, and even if they were she probably wouldn't have had any money to visit them.

"Wow, this isn't an arcade, it's a tower." Jaune said.

"Yep! It's the biggest Arcade on Remnant, that's why me and Ren have been saving up our stipends to come here." Nora pipped in.

Pyrrha looked at Nora, a little surprised. "Aren't scholarship stipends supposed to be used for school supplies?"

"Is that why you've been taking all my notebook paper?" Jaune replied.

"Hey, we're a team, right? Teams share." Nora said. "And we're willing to share our tokens and our tickets."

"Even with me?" Ume replied.

She walked in stride with them down the street. She took three steps for every one of their's, but had no trouble keeping up otherwise. She only paused as they got to the front of the building and she grabbed one of the brochures from the kiosk. It only took a moment for her to flip it over and her face to blanch at the apparent prices.

"This place is super pricey."

"Well, yeah, but there are discounts, especially for kids." Nora smiled as she pointed up at the screen.

"So?" Ume looked up at Nora. "I'll get a discount, what's the point?"

"The point is, all we gotta do is bring you up four times, buy four kids passes and one adult pass." Nora said with a smile. "Then we'll save like, a whole lot."

"Won't they get suspicious if four different people come up with the same kid? Also, won't they think it's weird you guys have kid passes?" Ume countered, which Pyrrha found strange, not the fact that it was probably also wrong to cheat like that.

"Nope, because they have a register on each floor for the passes, we just gotta go to a different floor each time." Nora said with a smile as she bounced. "Also, the passes are identical."

"How do you know all this?" Jaune asked this time.

"Because she tried to buy kid passes last weekend and they wouldn't let her without having a child with her. Apparently people have tried that before." Ren said solemnly.

That did explain where they went last Sunday. Still, that was a bit rude, Pyrrha thought Nora invited Ume to come down into Vale with them as an honest invitation. Not some sort of way to exploit the girl's small stature.

"I'm sorry Ume, we don't need to do that I'll just p…"

She trailed off as the small girl actually started clapping her hands.

"I applaud your sneakiness." She said it with a smile as she held her hands down. "But aren't you afraid they'll kick you out if we get caught?"

"How in the world would they pick us out of a crowd?" Nora asked.

The small girl turned her attention to Pyrrha.

"Maybe follow the famous redhead in gold armor."

Pyrrha blinked at the finger pointing up towards her before it was lowered. The girl donned a curious expression.

"Why are you always in that anyway?"

Pyrrha looked down, scratching her nose.

"I guess I'm used to it. My armor was custom made by a prominent designer. Part of the deal for getting it for free was that I wear it a lot."

"Oh, I didn't think of that! You bet if we ask them, they'll let Pyrrha in for free cause sh…."

"No" Ren cut Nora off.

"What, but we could…."

"Nora chill out, you're already using Ume to get the discount tickets. We don't need to make this into a spectacle by dragging Pyrrha into this." Jaune said this time.

"Honestly, it may be a bit too late for that." Ume replied.

Pyrrha glanced around and winced looking at the people around her. She even saw someone get out a scroll. Oh, that wouldn't be good. There was a reason she had avoided going into the city proper, but she figured they'd blend in at a crowded place. Though if things got too…

"Pyrrha, can you help me find the bathroom?"

Pyrrha didn't have much time to answer. She probably didn't have to, because she nodded even as the small girl grabbed her hand and led her away. Despite the words that she needed help finding a restroom, the other redhead didn't have any trouble locating one and pulling her in before locking the door. She then did a quick look around, checking the stalls and for cameras. She then let out a sigh and looked up at Pyrrha. Small grey eyes meeting hers as she said.

"Pyrrha, do you have any casual clothing?"

"I have my school uniform, and pajamas, and workout clothes though those were too sweaty to wear today. I have a dress, for formal occasions. But otherwise…"

Pyrrha looked down, she had left Mistral in a hurry and hadn't had much time to pack. She hadn't had much time to pack because she had basically fled, only really telling her mother to get her blessing before leaving. She didn't want to be stopped by her manager at the station for the bullhead or anybody else for that matter because they would have tried to convince her to stay and, knowing her manager, might have succeeded.

"You haven't gone shopping for any?" The girl seemed more confused than anything.

"I actually haven't gone into the city proper since I got to Beacon, because, well…" Pyrrha gestured outside and Ume nodded.

"I've seen the codex feeds, you're pretty famous. There's a lot of people here, if one person recognizes you, more will. Considering how people treat hunters you may get autograph seekers and it probably won't stop. So yeah, I see what happened, why didn't you order clothing off of Codex?"

"I, I really don't know what would suit me. Or if it would fit right. Most of my um, fighting or clothing were all tailored to fit me. Nevermind I've never been one for fashion."

Pyrrha looked down a little disappointed, she should have been more prepared for this. She let out a sigh and looked down. "That sounds pretty weak actually."

"What? Being unprepared because you didn't expect something like this to come up? No, that's actually pretty par for the course, honestly." Ume let out a sigh and looked at Pyrrha. "That's pretty much what life is, after all. Being in way over your head and trying to fake it until you get used to things."

"Really?" Pyrrha looked at her.

Ume, despite being a small girl, despite being younger than all her classmates, never seemed like she was in over her head. In fact, she never seemed surprised, or uncomfortable. Well, at least she hadn't been until the incident with Team CRDL bullying the second year girl. The shame of the entire incident bit in Pyrrha's stomach. She could have done something then, she could have challenged Team CRDL, she probably could have beaten them too. They were armored opponents and she excelled at that, but she didn't want to make herself stand out any more than she already had. It had been selfish and she wished she had apologized to the girl afterwards, but when her team had come to challenge CRDL she lost track of her.

"Yeah really, I've basically been spending the last month just getting used to all of, well, this." Ume just gestured around to everything.

"I, I've never asked. Is where you're from, is it really different from here?"

"Of course it is." She held her sleeves. "Everything here is so much, much more. In my home there are no malls, everything you buy you get from small independent stores. Or restaurants, there are no chain restaurants, there's no big companies that monopolize productions or deals like that. The only really big companies are trading companies, and even they only really distribute to smaller businesses. Everything here is so, processed, so automated, so, so…"

"So much more. I hadn't considered you would be from a rural area Ume, you seem so comfortable with your surroundings."

Ume shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm probably just better at hiding my discomfort, plus a lot of it is convenient. You're the same, I didn't even notice you were so nervous about people recognizing you."

"Well, it's not as bad at Beacon. Most people don't even really notice me." Unless she was fighting.

"Well, yeah, you spend most of the time in your Beacon uniform, it makes you blend in." She blinked then snapped her fingers. "That's what we need."

She fiddled through her sleeves for a moment and pulled out her scroll and started going through it.

"Ume, who are you ca….

The call picked up and showed the brown haired girl with a beret in front of a stone building.

"Who's this?" Pyrrha glanced over, recognizing the leader of Team CVFY "Oh, laundry girl, what is it? You picking up dry cleaning late again?"

"No, it's not laundry related, you in Vale?"

"Yeah, in the mall. Velvet needed a new outfit after what happened on…"

There were some protests from the rabbit faunus.

"Hey, I told you, we needed a team outing to make up for what happened. It still disappoints me that those scrubs managed to single you out."

"Perfect, can you do me a favor and pick up an outfit for Pyrrha?"

She blinked a moment "Pyrrha Nikos?"

Pyrrha paused at the suddenness before looking at the girl as the camera was turned on her. She waved a little awkwardly as she gave a smile.

"Hello."

Ume turned the camera back away and spoke again.

"We're having a day out, and need something a little more, relaxation appropriate."

Coco leaned her sunglasses down as she glanced at Ume then over towards Pyrrha.

"With what money?"

"I can pay for it, just need something casual that looks nice. You're good at that, right?" Ume said quickly.

"You really don't ne…"

"If it's clothing, there's no one better and I suppose I owe you one since this was the scroll that called me about Velvet's little problem with those freshmen. I'll need measurements though." Coco said this time. "And about forty minutes."

"That quick?" Pyrrha said.

"Please, figure like yours, not hard to make it look good. I'll need exact measurements though. Laundry girl, you got a tape measure?"

"Yep" Ume replied, pulling one out from her sleeves.

"Is this really necessary, I mean I don't want to inconvenience anyone."

She really should have gone and gotten her own clothing by now.

"If that's what you were planning to go out on the town in, I would have done it anyway. It's pretty much charity at this point." Coco said over the scroll. "By the way, what's your shoe size? Those legs are screaming for some leather boots."

"I may need to ask how much this will cost."

"The boots are on me, there's a sale buy one get one half off." Coco said. "Where do we want to meet?"

"I'll find a place and time." Ume paused.

"This does seem like a lot of hassle." Pyrrha said, holding her smile. "I'm sure I'll be fi…"

"Cut it out." Coco cut her off. "If people want to help you should accept. There's a cafe called Dark Brew not too far from there, I'll meet you there in an hour."

There was a pause. "Laundry girl, get me a coffee while you're there, I like to let it cool a little bit before I get there."

"Sure" Ume said. "Just text me the order I'll text you the measurements."

"Alright, see you then."

The call cut off and Pyrrha was still nervous.

"Are you sure this isn't too much trouble? I'm sure we could just go in. Nevermind we'll be delaying everyone else."

Ume closed the phone and rolled her eyes.

"If we go with Nora's plan, we're gonna have to wait in line four times anyway. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to get the clothing and change. Then you'll have some more clothing to wear when you go out."

"But is it re…."

"Do you really want to spend the entire day being bugged by fans? 'Cause that's a real possibility if you just go about in your armor, Pyrrha."

She looked down, a little abashed. No, no she didn't. She didn't want to be pulled away from her team by fans.

"I guess not."

"Anyway, I'm sure the others will understand. Now let's get those measurements."

* * *

It took some shuffling about, but we managed to get our discounted tickets before too long. I didn't think the savings were that much, but Nora apparently did because she counted the things up on a calculator before she went about going over what would be the best meal to get as a group in the complex (there was no outside food and drink allowed. And I asked, they would kick us out if they found us with it).

It was while we were just getting out of the last line (I was with Ren last) that Pyrrha returned with team CVFY in tow and she looked different. For one, she was missing her tiara, which now that I thought about it I'd NEVER seen her without. Her hair wasn't in its high ponytail either, but instead was in a lower one that hung over her shoulder. She was wearing a teal/green open sweater over a cream colored camisole which went into a brown skirt that stopped just over her legs. Just as promised, there was a pair of matching leather boots with a low heel, and she had a peach flowy scarf around her neck tied to the side opposite her lower ponytail. She seemed to glance around and fiddle with her hands as she walked forward. Jaune was the first to speak.

"Wow Pyrrha, you look great." He stepped forward to grab her name.

"Thank you, Jaune."

She smiled, her hands clutching the insides of the sleeves of the sweater. It wasn't oversized, but she pulled on it just a bit, pulling them down her wrists as she glanced around. I guess she wasn't used to it, but she did look nice.

"Girl needs to expand her color pallet." Coco said, taking a step forward. "Gold and red are fine and all for fighting, but neutral tones with some pops of color are easier on the eyes."

"It does suit you." I said, looking forward. "How much do I owe you?"

"Did you get me my coffee?" She looked at me and I pulled it out of my sleeve. She picked it up and looked down. "It's still warm."

"Why wouldn't it be? You act like this sort of thing is supposed to follow some sort of logic. I know you straight up ignore it with your purse." I pointed to her bag and she laughed.

"Honestly I was a little afraid you'd get her a clubbing outfit."

"You did say in the text you wanted to be low key." Coco said.

"Besides the clubbing outfit in here." I actually leaned forward, looking into the bag. "How'd you get this all together in forty minutes?"

"You know where to look, it doesn't take long. Besides, good teamwork helps a lot." She pointed a thumb at the rest of her team.

I saw the defeated look on the boys standing behind her, the darker skinned boy, Fox was his name and Yatsuhashi just glanced towards Velvet, who let out a sigh. Well, that was good training. I should probably do that with the other boys when I get back home, well, at least other than Benjiro. He was way better at navigating stores than I was.

"I still need to repay you." I started looking through my wraps. "What's the damage?"

"Meh, owed you a favor, you can owe me one now." She crossed her arms as she leaned back.

"You sure? I'm good for it."

"Really? Do you get a stipend too?" Jaune asked.

"No, I do odd jobs. Just here or there, sometimes I move papers around."

"How does that work, does it have to do with being a class auditor?" Ren asked this time.

"Not at all, I just do so…."

"BORING!" Nora bursted out apparently at the end of her patience for this discussion. "Lien, is lien is lien, and mine's burning a hole in my pocket. Here!"

She handed out the cards for the arcade, apparently they didn't use tokens here, but cards you slid into the machines. "We only have until ten before the bullheads leave, let's GO!"

She disappeared in a blur of pink up the stairs and Ren shook his head before jogging to try and keep pace with her.

"I guess that's our cue to leave." Jaune said, shaking his head before turning towards team CFVY. "Thanks, for going out like that."

"Sure thing" Coco said, looking Jaune up and down. "It was a worthy cause. Though you might need some help later."

Jaune put a hand on his head, shaking it. "Maybe, maybe later. We shouldn't let the others get too far ahead."

He held out a hand to Pyrrha, more a friendly gesture than anything, but she radiated surprise. "Shall we?"

"Yes." Pyrrha said with a smile, grabbing his hand, and the two went forward.

I smiled as they moved through the crowd, though I felt a hint of amusement from Coco as well as Team CFVY. Glancing at the Beacon upperclassman I raised an eyebrow.

"Those two?" Coco raised a finger in their direction.

"We have a running bet, it's going more slowly than I thought it would, but honestly probably by the end of the year." I said.

Velvet actually turned away at the suggestion, while Fox let out a snort. Yatsuhashi just turned away.

"You guys want to come join in?" I gestured to the arcade.

Coco actually paused. "I'd pass, but what do you guys think?"

There was a short pretty quiet debate, in that no one talked, the boys just exchanged looks, while Velvet looked at the area.

"It's pretty crowded, and you said we could go sit down at the cafe after the stores."

Coco hummed before taking a long draw of her own coffee.

"You guys had some good hustle, so yeah let's go, drinks on me."

"I'll see you guys later then?" I yelled after.

"Sure, see you later, laundry girl."

* * *

 **Busy, busy, so so busy. In one month I had a wedding, which I had to travel, after the wedding I got sick, then I started my summer class, I've been working as close to full time at work as they'll let me (I'm part time, which means they'll at maximum give me 32 hours, but it's long shifts, and very busy, I work in a grocery store kitchen, and recently it was national fried chicken day and it was exhausting!). Then worse thing, my laptop died, which is, well it's a lot of things. My hard drive can be recovered but I've effectively lost my work station, which is bad cause I'm a digital media artist, I need lots of programs for industry stuffs. So in the meantime I've been sketching to practice, well sketching, I'm not actually in the habit of making rough drafts and doing process stuff (which if you look at my writing, I guess isn't that surprising, I've basically been riding by the skin of my teeth), so sketching is, interesting to say the least. I've been posting some sketching stuff though, and you can check it out on my tumblr** **author soundless sleep tumblr com (remove the spaces, and put a dot before tumblr and com) so if people want to see that, I'll be adding world building content in addition to some pictures of the characters with how their supposed to look (so far, I've only done Ume, but I'm trying to build up so I can at least get a semi decent head shot of every major original character).**

 **Anyway, that's all for now, Sugar Plums is on hiatus, I'm gonna have to think about pacing, relooking at the DoS timeline I kind of see, it doesn't exactly follow the same seasons as Naruto canon in terms of actual events (which I'm not sure whether or not I'll change, but seasons are a little more, involved in Land of Water since there's weather other then perpetual sunny).**

 **Reviews would be nice.**


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Professor Peach was a stout woman, who looked like a peach. She was about the same girth as Professor Port, though maybe ten centimeters shorter, she had shoulder length light brown hair which framed a round face with a pair of peach colored eyes and was wearing a well tailored peach colored suit with a white undershirt and matching heels. Her symbol, which was a white peach, was embroidered on the breast of her shirt.

"Good morning first years, today you will be heading to the forest of Forever Fall to collect the sap from the trees there. You'll be split up into groups twelve, or three teams. Each team will be sent with a different Beacon professor to ensure your safety in the forest since it is known to house the monsters of grimm and, yes?"

She noticed my raised hand.

"Why do we need to gather sap from a grimm infested forest?" I asked.

She didn't seem perturbed by the question.

"The trees in Forever Fall are unique to that location."

"Really? But why go there to get the sap? Couldn't someone make a cutting and grow the trees in a greenhouse?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"There have been attempts, but for various reasons there have been multiple failures because something about the climate of that forest or region is what keeps the trees healthy and growing."

"It's a mildly cool climate, it shouldn't be that hard to replicate."

"There are other factors involved, but I…" She trailed off as she actually got a good look at me. "Are you a student here? You look a bit young."

"I'm the class auditor." I replied, glancing around.

"Oh, yes, I heard of you from the first year teachers. I teach second and third year classes, no wonder I didn't recognize you." She turned to the rest of the gathered students. "Regardless, everyone get to your teams and head to the bullheads."

"Ugh, why did it have to be bullheads?" Jaune groaned as his team started to scatter at the landing sites.

"There's medicine for airsickness, you know." I said as I moved in step with his team.

"Really? Maybe we should ask if any of the teachers have any." Pyrrha said.

"No need"

I reached into a sleeve and pulled out my leather medicine bag. It had been battered and a lot of the contents damaged because of the laundry room incident. I rustled through it and pulled out a bottle.

"Here we go, how's promethazine?"

Jaune glanced at it. "Is it an antihistamine?"

I turned the bottle and scanned it. "Um, yeah."

He waved me off.

"Then I probably shouldn't. I got hay fever when I was younger, which only got worse when my parents tried to give me antihistamines. According to the doctor I'm allergic to most of them."

"Ouch, really? I'll probably get some herbal supplements later then. I know ginger pills are good for motion sickness too."

Most of my stuff before had been just that, but since I got here I had been stocking up on a lot of processed medical goods. It wasn't that we couldn't make medicine like this at home, it was just that it couldn't be made as quickly, cheaply or in as much bulk as it was at local pharmacies. But that was pretty much moot if he couldn't have any processed nausea meds.

"You don't have to."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"My brother has the same problems with ships, so it's no big deal. Besides, you're supposed to be heroes or something, right? Not very heroic to stagger off of bullheads to go vomit in the trash can."

He turned away, embarrassment radiating off of him as the others sat down. The bullhead ride took about forty minutes before landing in a lush radiant red forest. Everyone got off one at a time, though Jaune took a moment to gather himself before walking off. I trailed behind everyone as we walked through the trees while Glynda led, just marveled at the sight. There was a sweet scent on the breeze as the red leaves fluttered down from the trees joining the carpet of them on the ground.

"Wow."

"Yes students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sightsee. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing it."

"Cheery," I said. Glynda glanced at me before continuing.

"Each of you is to gather one jar of red sap, however this forest is full of the creatures of grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates and we'll rendezvous back here at four o'clock."

She paused before looking at me.

"And you Miss Ume, are not to leave the company of any of the other students."

"Yes yes, I was told before I left. I won't wander off."

"Have fun, you can find me with your scrolls."

Glynda said before she moved through the trees and sat down, pulling out her own scroll like she wasn't in a deadly forest.

Shrugging my shoulders, I pulled out a piece of cloth from my sleeve and out came the tree tappers and the jars. One of the caveats for me being allowed to come was that they wanted me to carry stuff, which was fine, it was more secure than other means, especially since the glass jars could easily shatter. Plus I only needed to store the supplies for one group. There were plenty of jars, more than one for each of us, probably because they expected at least one or two to be broken.

"You know, you're pretty handy as a pack mule."

"It is one of my many talents." I picked up a bottle and a tap.

"Do you actually need to do this?" Weiss said this time. "You're not really a student."

"Nah, but it's been a long time since I'd been on a field trip. I thought it would be fun to come along."

"Traveling to a grimm infested forest isn't really my definition of fun." Blake was a little more apprehensive of the forest then she let on, her face was passive as she gathered her bottle.

"Can't be any worse than the last time."

That got a mixed response from team RWBY, but I didn't stay much to linger on the topic. With my jar and tap I caught up with Team JNPR as we moved to a section of forest and started working on the trees. I could feel team CRDL approaching and grabbing their supplies after us. I knew they were the third team on our bullhead but they had mostly ignored me for the trip so I didn't pay them much mind.

We found a small grove of the trees, the marking and varieties Nora pointed out as the right ones.

"You're pretty good at this." I said as I walked to one of them and looked for a place to drill.

"Ren and I once helped tap syrup trees in a frontier town next to Mistral. It was super tasty." Nora said as Ren kneeled down to tap the tree they found.

"We got paid less because Nora ate half the syrup we collected." Ren said as he started drilling into the tree with the small hand drill.

You were supposed to drill then place the tap, though they only gave one hand drill per group. When he finished he pushed in the tap and started filling his jar.

"These trees seem pretty full, we won't have to make many holes to finish the assignment."

"Can I try?" I said from my tree and Ren looked up before giving a light toss of the drill.

Catching it with my right hand, I pulled it to the tree and tried to set to the task of drilling, and found some complications. As much as I tried to steady it with my false hand, my fake fingers couldn't hold it steady as I tried to turn it. Switching hands I found I couldn't get a good enough grip on the handle to make it turn straight. The two jointed fingers couldn't wrap around well enough on the smaller handle and bumped up against it awkwardly. I looked at the hand for a moment and sighed as I looked at the design. Adding more would make it more hand like sure, but having a full range of motion was easier said than done. The more moving parts added put more stress on the tiny pulleys in the hand that held the strings, nevermind it could cause more entanglement. It was why the first three prototypes had no joints on the fingers themselves, and the fourth and fifth only one. The new prototypes would probably get another joint, though we'd have to figure out how to make sure it didn't snag.

God, I wish that damn shadow arm seal wasn't exclusively used by Nara, otherwise we wouldn't have this problem.

"You having trouble, Ume?"

Jaune had approached while I was deep in thought. I glanced up and he could probably see the jagged half hole I'd managed in the wood.

"Having some technical difficulties using the drill." I said, holding up my false arm to him. He just nodded.

"Here, I'll try."

I handed him the drill and he went to his knees to use the drill on the haphazard hole I started. It only took about a minute before he took the tap and pushed it in and then it spurted out of the tap, hitting him with a facefull of sap.

I jumped back at the sudden explosion and he was knocked back. His face and hair was coated in the sticky pink substance, which he brought to his hand.

"Ugh."

I looked at him for a few seconds, my breath getting heavy for a few moments before I clutched my stomach and burst out laughing.

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry" I said with a choke. "You just look so"

I couldn't look at him as the pinkness just dripped off him. He looked so startled when it happened too. I didn't expect it either, but…

The violent sneeze he let out a moment later stopped my laughter. Especially as it turned from one to several, then he started coughing.

"Oh, ow, it hurts it…" He let out a gasp and started holding his throat. Oh, oh shit.

Placing my hand on his head I started a diagnostic. His aura glowed in response but I ignored it as I focused on his breathing. His throat had started swelling and his heart was beating wildly. The sap must have gotten in his mouth and down his throat, causing an allergic reaction. I moved my hand down and grasped his throat, pushing chakra into the muscles around it and pushing to reduce the swelling. Jaune let out a gasp as he breathed in air, but he still choked as he was still covered in the sap.

"What's wrong? What's happening?" Pyrrha had seen something was amiss and came. "Oh my god Jaune!"

"Water, we need to wash his face off."

I had some water but not enough, we might need to submerge him to get off something that sticky.

"There's a river not too far, I heard it on the way here."

Pyrrha moved to try and grab Jaune but I shook her off.

I nodded and pushed into Jaune. My hand didn't leave his neck as I picked him up and carried him on my back. I enhanced my hearing and... there, running water. Pushing chakra into my feet I dashed through the trees, the wind picking up as I mad rushed to the river. I nearly tripped at the bank's drop. It wasn't deep, but it was running. I dropped into it, my feet splashing as I laid Jaune down. I kept my hand on his back as I tried to keep the swelling from constricting his throat.

"Thanks" He choked out as he started to wash the sap from his face in the running water.

For a few minutes we just sat there. I kept a steady hand on him, trying to keep the symptoms down while he drank and pushed away the sap. He looked up for a second as he looked at me.

"That was scary."

I nodded. "Yeah, it was, though I have to apologize."

"For the tap? That was an accident."

"No, for this."

I changed the chakra to a different setting and removed my hand. A moment later Jaune understood what I did as he started emptying his stomach into the river.

I watched mostly to make sure there weren't any complications, but soon he was just spewing out the water he'd drank and was sitting in the current, the water soaking his jeans. When he seemed empty I held a hand on his back and calmed his nausea. He stood shakily and I gave him a hand as we moved to the river's edge and he sat on some dry rocks.

"What, how did you…"

"Inducing vomiting was one of the first things I was taught when I started my medical training."

I had to do so more than once on myself, especially when they made me test my medicines on myself.

"Oh, I gu…"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha nearly tripped as she saw us. "Oh thank god, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just, really tired."

"When Ume ran away I didn't know what was happening."

"He was having an allergic reaction." I said. "Sorry I couldn't explain before, it would have wasted time. I was able to lower his heart rate and reduce the swelling in his throat."

"You did all that while you ran?" She sat down and was checking Jaune herself, looking over his soaked form for injury.

"No, I had to stop when I did that, which was why I ran ahead. I knew I'd be faster moving him on my own. I started again so he could wash away the sap, though…" I looked down at his clothes. "He'll need to take those off so they'll dry."

"Oh, um," She stood and turned to walk away. "I guess I'll give him some privacy then."

"You should stay." I said quickly as I grabbed her hand. "Jaune's in a weakened state, what if some grimm came along?"

"That's true, I'll just, turn around then." She did just that as she fiddled with her hands.

I rolled my eyes as Jaune started to strip down to his boxers. Though I felt her occasionally turn, she turned back immediately, embarrassment rolling off her. Oh god save me from these awkward teenagers, they lived together in a single room and she was put off by this much. I guess ninja just weren't much for modesty, but I bathed with most of my brothers when I was at the academy and whenever we went to hot springs. It wasn't that big a deal.

"Are you feeling okay now?" Pyrrha said as Jaune sat on the rocks in his underwear.

"My nose feels a bit stuffed up and I'm a bit dizzy."

"I can probably help a little with that if I…."

The shattering of glass made the three of us turn our heads, the sudden spike as I felt dread and anger surge out made me step a moment before I heard the roar as well as a cry in the distance.

"What was…"

"Team CRDL." I said it quickly as I looked at the two of them. "Stay here."

"Ume, what are you…"

"Jaune needs to be protected, stay here." I said as I pushed my foot down and rushed through the forest.

* * *

 **I understand in canon that Jaune didn't show an extreme allergy, but this is a different situation since this is a sudden and more direct exposure to an allergen which can be quite a shock to the system.**


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Five Minutes Earlier

The hill overlooking the grove Team JNPR had wandered into wasn't that far away, maybe ten meters at best. Team RWBY wasn't far away. In fact, Cardin could see them in the distance, as well their distinct colored uniform moving through the otherwise red forest. God, how did all the nines and tens end up on the same team? You'd think they'd be broken up more, he'd known more than a few guys who'd have been gunning to try and team up with Yang or Blake, though Weiss Schnee seemed a bit high maintenance and that Ruby girl needed some growing before she would be anything worth taking another glance at. But that hadn't happened because they were broken up and shot eight at a time off that cliff, it wasn't likely they were going to catch one of them as a team before they found each other. Not that it mattered much, Cardin had his team. They were always his crew, now they were his team, so it was easy enough.

At least until recently.

"How many did we get from that one?"

"Only one and a half bottles." Sky held up the taper. "Think someone already hit this grove."

Dove just nodded as he started drilling into another tree.

"Or something. There's some marks on the tree." Russel said as he walked forward and added a bottle to the pile. They'd gotten two and a half bottles so far.  
"Hey Cardin, why'd you get five bottles? I know there were spares but I don't think any of us are actually clumsy enough to drop it."

"Oh, you'll see." He said it under his breath as he watched the three of them work.

The same three who for the last week had been either ignoring him or pushing for other conversations whenever it came to her, that freaking class auditor. Ever since that detention they've been pushing to avoid her, they even abandoned him when he tried to do a prank on them. What the hell was with that?

Clenching his fist he picked up the bottle and started mapping out the arc in his head. It wouldn't have to be too hard, they had the high ground after all. The wind wasn't against them either. Picking up one of the bottles he tested the weight as he stood up. It had a decent weight, wouldn't fly off course definitely. Looking down he saw her leaned down at the base of the tree trying to use the drill. Yeah, all he'd need to do is…

He felt a hand grab his arm as he reared it back.

"What the.."

He tried to move his arm but Dove had his hand clasped around his wrist and he just shook his head at Cardin before reaching up to try and take the jar. Cardin turned and smacked his hand away.

"What are you doing?"

Dove took a step back then pointed down and shook his head again.

"Who do you think you are?"

"What are you two on about?" It was Russel who moved forward. "What're you doing with the sap?"

Dove moved his hand in a flying gesture before pushing both out for an explosion.

"Really, you think we can bean someone from here, that would be…"

Dove shook his head again before he made a gesture with his hand holding his hair near the top of his head.

"Oh" Russel looked down. "Nah, that's not, not a great idea."

Cardin held the bottle back.

"What is with you guys? It's just that bitch auditor, why do you care?"

"Well, we sort of owe her. She did come get us."

"She held us in detention, we don't owe her shit."

He didn't get it, what did they think they owed? She'd stolen their things and forced them to do menial labor for hours before cutting them loose with chump change.

So they'd been thrown out of a club and she went to help them back to the bullhead, she as good as said her ass would have been on the line if they didn't make it back. He didn't remember what had happened, but if it would have gotten her in trouble he would have gladly missed the bullhead back. That smug little bitch, the hell she got around wandering the grounds like she owned the place. She didn't even acknowledge them most of the time and when she did she asked some condescending question. She wasn't unaware, she wasn't some scared curious child, she didn't hold herself like one. She was looking down on everyone and for some reason no one said anything about it.

"Not that it matters, look."

Sky was the one to speak this time. The three heads all turned to see that the spot that previously held the small redhead was completely vacant. In fact, the entire clearing below was empty of her, the only real movement after that was Nikos, who was looking around.

"Son of a, you guys made me lose my chance."

"Cardin, maybe you should ease off this whole pranking thing. I mean, it never seems to work anyway." Sky said.

"But she, she…"

Cardin looked at his teammates, his crew, and saw their expressions. Dove just shook his head, Russel and Sky avoiding his eyes. God damnit.

"Fine, whatever, but I'm not letting her get away with disrespecting me. No one get's one over on Cardin Winchester."

Turning on his heel he started stomping around looking for her. Where the hell had she gotten off to? Looking at the clearing he saw Nikos sprint off somewhere. Was that where she was? JNPR did spend a lot of time with the little bitch, so maybe it had something to do with it. He didn't run after her, but he could make her out from the high ground as he jogged forward, though he didn't get far.

Dove ran ahead of him and held out his hands to block him.

"Move."

It was an order, plain and simple. He didn't often have to make them, he'd been with his crew so long they usually knew what to do. They knew what he wanted, what their roles were and they absolutely knew not to get in his way. But Dove just stood there and shook his head again.

"Is this because of her?"

Dove didn't answer, nor did he make a gesture. He just stood there to hold him there.

His anger flared. That little, she turned them against him. His own team, his crew. Never. This wouldn't stand. He stepped forward to grab onto Dove and held his arm. He gave it a squeeze at an angle, right between the plates. It wasn't that hard a squeeze, just enough to cause discomfort.

"Move out of the way, Dove." He said between his clenched teeth.

Dove shook his head and Cardin let out a growl as he pushed past the boy. Dove's hand caught his shoulder, but he wasn't strong enough to hold Cardin back as he pushed forward. The resistance made Cardin grit his teeth and, pushing out a hand, he dislodged the boy and headed forward, he would no…

"Cardin!"

He rounded on the boy. So he wanted to talk now, he wanted…

The expression on Doves face startled him as he looked at the boy's pointer finger. He turned to see the shaking trees move as a black figure bounded through them. He stared as he dropped the bottle that shattered on a rock on the ground as one of the biggest Ursa he'd ever seen burst out of the trees and roared. It only took him a moment to register what happened as he looked at Dove. The other boy returned his glance before nodding and the two turned tail and ran.

Oh shit. Grimm didn't roar to intimidate or to scare, they roared to alert other grimm to prey. With how loud that was he didn't doubt other grimm in the forest heard it. An Ursa that big would take a while to take down and that would just mean it'd allow them to be surrounded.

The two boys sprinted to the right, down the path to get away. Cardin's breath heaved as he tried to reason his path. He needed his team, his full team and maybe high ground, and maybe some….

His foot caught in a root as he tried to arrange his thoughts as fast as he was going. He was a big guy, so he went down hard, skidding forward and rolling into a tree. Impact jarred into his armor, his aura taking the hit, but the pain made him wince as he turned over just in time to see the Ursa barreling towards him. He rolled back, unclipping the mace from his belt, but he couldn't steady himself to get a shot off onto the grimm without also being caught in the fire. He stared at the beast, his hand shaking as it almost closed the distance and...

The sound of the wind was deafening as a torrent of the red orange leaves filled the air at the sudden gust, filling the air like heavy snow obscuring the grimm. There was a crack and as the leaves began to settle he saw and heard the grimm skid into the ground, upturning the dirt as a blur of pink, red and purple rammed into its side, contrasting against the solid black. It seemed for a moment the beast was done for, but it rolled over quickly and swiped to its side. Flipping backwards, the class auditor landed a few feet in front of him, her hand hovering a wooden shaft at her side. She looked, well, she looked a mess.

Her clothing was dirty with several twigs caught in her hair, disheveled like she had been thrown through the canopy. Under normal circumstances he would have laughed. It would have been the first time he'd seen her in such a flustered disarray. If he had a picture it certainly would have been a way to embarrass her, but that was out of his mind as she glanced at him.

"Are you…"

"Watch out!"

The words left Cardin's lips before he could think as the grimm made a swipe at the small girl. She didn't move, instead there was a pull and a glimmer of silver as well as the crack of metal on bone as the wood shaft was pulled away to reveal a sword that she pulled with a speed that intercepted the large claw. The speed at which she did so was amazing, but not enough to stop the force of the blow as it skidded her back before knocking her over completely, leaving her flat on her ass in the dirt. She was only there for a second as she rolled with the knock back before landing back into her feet, sword in hand and at the ready.

Pushing onto the ground, he moved to get up himself. How could he stand to be on the ground when she was... what the hell was she doing anyway? How the hell had she even gotten here? Was she spying on him? The hell, did she think she was too…

"Winchester!"

He snapped to attention only to see he'd lost his focus as the Ursa moved to strike him. He jumped back, mace already swinging up on reflex, but the one handed swing didn't have the strength to push back the blow. The mace was ripped from his hand and a follow up strike knocked him back into the tree. The breath was pushed out of his lungs, leaving him wheezing as he slumped down the tree. Reflexively he put up his arms, covering his face from what would be the next blow.

It never came. In the shadow of the creature Cardin waited a few scant breaths before he lowered his arms to see the form of the grimm, he jumped back from the tree at the perceived to attack only to see the figure was falling slumped to the ground in a smack of weight and bulk. His eyes only needed to dart upwards for a second before he saw the cause of it, the small figure clad in pink had her feet planted on the shoulder of the beast, her short blade had been lodged into its skull. He stared at the class auditor as she stood there panting, both hands firmly locked around the hilt of the sword as she continued to lean into it. It was only when the creature started to dissolve did she pull her weapon from it before flicking it out, flinging away the creature's blood onto the trees before resheathing it in a practiced motion.

"Holy sh…."

He was interrupted by the growl in the treeline.

"No time to gawk, Winchester. Get your weapon, we aren't out of the woods yet."

* * *

I'd screwed up.

That was the short of it, really. I'd used too much energy much too quickly when I'd taken Jaune to the river. I'd panicked really, I mean I wasn't exactly used to dealing with medical crisis, at least not how Mitsuki and Kiriko were. I then rushed into battle, which I honestly expected to have better back up too. I mean logically if the teams went out into grimm infested woods they'd stay together in grimm infested woods. No such luck, as I was facing three, no, four ursas running towards us with only a dazed, bruised Cardin Winchester at my back.

Cardin was not a bad fighter, but he'd already taken a few hits to his aura and was now briefly stunned by my appearance. Well, less stunned, more shocked, amazed and just a bit skeptical about what he was seeing. Honestly I'm not sure why, if I'd learned anything about this world is that a person's appearance, age or gender didn't really say anything about their combat ability. Hell, half the girls at Beacon looked and dressed like they should be on runways, not combat platforms.

Regardless, his emotional state wasn't focused on the task at hand. Though it was better than earlier. The BFU (big fucking ursa) had honed in on him because of his fear, his anger was probably what had drawn the damn thing in the first place. Peter was right, awakened auras really did make people targets for grimm, which meant that I'd have to make sure Cardin didn't start slipping into negative emotions, otherwise I wouldn't be able to count on him for this fight.

Which meant I'd have to pretend I wasn't tired as hell.

"Watch my back." I said as I adjusted my stance towards the left side.

Cardin seemed a bit confused at this.

"You're pretty fast, can't you just..."

"Do you want to be left alone?" I snapped at him, my teeth gritting. "I'm fast, but I'm also small. It doesn't matter if I can't build up momentum or take them by surprise. You're a heavy hitter, I need you at my side."

It would be easier to protect him if he was nearby and it would increase my window to get a kill shot in. That was the only way I could take on grimm, because they weren't like humans. They wouldn't be tricked by misdirection, pain didn't slow them down, neither did poison or fear. They would and did run to their death if it meant killing whatever they went after. No, the only way to deal with them was one hit, one kill, find an opening and end it. Though that was significantly harder with multiple opponents and the fact that I was low on energy. Also, Cardin might get caught in the crossfire, which lowered my jutsu options.

Cardin didn't respond vocally, he nodded and held his mace at the ready. He was still confused, still anxious, but he wasn't fully scared. This was familiar territory even if he'd never fought with me before. At least the training did that much right, as the Ursa crossed the clearing and he held out his mace, shooting into them.

The fire dust charge exploded, knocking two of the Ursa off balance. The others kept charging, not hesitating for their friends and I took a breath as I rolled to the right, letting them plow past me towards the trees. Cardin stepped closer, swinging his mace into the charge and using both his steady footing and their momentum to power his swing as he knocked the Ursa in the chest. The bear grimm was knocked onto its back, which I used as my window to dash behind it and shove my sword into its eye. It let out a guttural scream, I let my blade go and jumped away to avoid it's thrashing. Though that didn't last long as it started to dissolve into mist.

Cardin watched this a little in awe.

"Damn yo..."

"Raiton: Chisani boruto"

The arc of lightning left my false arm, hitting the charging ursa in the shoulder as it rose behind Cardin, who had turned. There was the smell of smoke from inside the prosthetic, damn it, the sword overheated. It must have burnt the inside again. We needed to get a better sheath for it, but we couldn't risk buying better metal until we got into more finalized prototypes. Tearing off the arm to prevent damage, I jumped on the creature of darkness as it reared back in pain, driving the sword into its exposed neck up to my forearm. I then poured in more electricity and planted my feet as the creature convulsed at the close range shock before falling backwards.

Though it started dissolving around the edges, I had a problem as now my arm was stuck in the burnt, melted flesh of its neck. It astounded me how much these things resembled living creatures with their wounds, even if they really weren't.

"The other two are closing in."

I said to Cardin, who I could feel was gawking as I tried to pry my arm loose. I heard more explosions, but that didn't stop them from getting closer. I could feel it, I could feel it but couldn't do shit about it. If the damn thing wasn't welded to the bone I'd have already taken the sword out, because this thing wouldn't dissolve fast enough.

Come on, come on, almost and… My hand jerked out, knocking me backwards as the dissolving got to the neck, which was good because one of the two had managed to get past Cardin, allowing me to roll away as it tried to stomp me into the ground. I rolled to my feet and dived between the Ursa's legs, slashing at one of them as I got to the other side. As I did so I heard gunshots and glanced up to see the Ursa being pelted with bullets. It roared, turning towards the source, and I took the opportunity and jumped onto its back. It was a short jump as I pushed up the spikes with my feet and charged my sword arm with electricity. Crackling with energy, I dove it into the beast's head just like I did the big one. Just like that, it went down with me on it, though this time I made sure to remove my arm before I got stuck again.

I looked up, feeling a different startled presence, make that two startled presences.

Dove and Sky were staring at me, Dove with his sword in one hand to shoot, Sky with his halberd at the ready. I guess it was a lure tactic though it…

I dashed to the side as the last Ursa moved to try and plow me into the ground. Sky and Dove started opening fire on it again, this time Sky switching his halberd forward shooting slower rifle shots out of it's shaft. They weren't enough to pierce the Ursa's tough hide, but they didn't have to be because Cardin came from behind in the distraction and slammed his mace in an overhead swing into the Ursa's skull. It went down with a sickening crack, the Ursa collapsing to the ground. For a few seconds we just watched as the beast lay slumped into the dirt, there was no movement, no growl or roar, but it didn't stir and when it dissolved we all let out the breath we were holding.

* * *

The next few hours were hazy. I didn't exactly pass out like I did in the emerald forest, but the crash from the adrenaline and all the chakra I'd burned using lightning techniques faded the details. I know I fell, I know someone moved me and I was handed things. It sort of faded in and out of focus, I might have fallen asleep, but I didn't know for sure. What I knew was that when I really understood my situation I was back at Beacon. Danny was on my chest sleeping and I was wearing the fluffy pink robe I'd bought a few weeks ago to wear when I washed my clothing.

My head hurt, my limbs were sore, I was starving and there was a lingering feeling of regret and… No, wait a moment, that wasn't. Blinking away the sleepiness I glanced to my left and found Cardin Winchester was sitting in the familiar chair. Glancing around I found myself in the infirmary again. His head was bowed, resting on his closed fists, he wasn't quite sleeping, more like stewing.

"Winchester."

He suddenly looked up, startled.

"You're awake you're…" He paused, his face going into a frown. "I should get the nurse. They didn't know when you'd wake and wanted to do some tests."

"No need" I said as I turned on the bed. "It's just chakra exhaustion, nothing more. I just need rest, and food."

"They, they didn't say that." He said, wincing. "They said you were catatonic, that it wasn't normal."

I thought about it for a few moments and let out a sigh.

"I was probably just in a stupor, it's happened once or twice before. I just pushed myself too hard."

I probably shouldn't have used electricity. I knew it drained me more, but it was easier to use for pure offense, especially with the sword, since it added cutting power. I slid to the side, sitting up and then attempting to stand, Danny complaining at the movement. The moment I moved to get to my feet, my body swayed as the world went wobbly. Augh, I got up too quickly.

Cardin moved forward and grabbed my arm, holding me up so I wouldn't fall. This close I could feel the guilt move off him in waves. Looking up I saw his eyes.

"I'm actually okay. This is just a side effect of, doing what I did."

"Is this why you wouldn't fight me?" He said it without any irony. "Why you never fought back whenever I pranked you? You could have, couldn't you, but you didn't."

I let out a breath as I read the guilt and the confusion. What in the world was he looking for here? I laid back down and Danny resumed his position on my lap. I moved my left arm, then paused when I realized the weight was different. Looking down I saw that my prosthesis hadn't been replaced, instead there was a casing of tape and foam surrounding the dull edge.

"What?"

"They said it was damaged, but you, you didn't have to let us prank you."

"I didn't let you do anything." I said as I let my head rest on the pillow and closed my eyes. "What is it you want Winchester? I'm a bit tired right now, as you can probably tell."

"I" He looked down as the guilt and confusion came back from the temporary concern that came to him. "Why, why did you come save me, if it did this to you?"

"What are you talking about?" I turned my head to look at him.

"You, the teachers all freaked out when you got on the ship. Glynda was furious that you had fought. But they didn't see, you, four Ursas, by yourself. To save me, even though."

"I didn't kill those Ursas by myself." I said with a sigh. "And what does it matter that I came to save you?"

"What?" He looked at me, the confusion more clear now.

"I mean, what does it matter?" I leaned up on my elbow and leveled my head. "Why wouldn't I come and save you? You were in trouble. Isn't that what we ought to do?"

"We?"

"Warriors, hunters, fighters, that's our job, isn't it? To fight the monsters, to save people."

"But I," He looked down. "I'm,"

"You're a bully."

"I'm not a.." He started on reflex. "I just, if people don't respect you, if."

"Now what does that have to do with that? You think I respect you or something Winchester? Cause I don't, by the way."

"What?"

"I don't respect you, do you respect me now? Why is that? Because you know I can fight back? That's not how respect works." I turned on the bed. "Velvet could have fought back too, she's a second year so she probably could have beaten you up too. Do you respect her?"

"What does that have to do with this?"

"Nothing, I'm not sure what you're talking about here Winchester, because honestly nothing has changed." I said it finally. "I saved you, just like I would have saved anyone else."

"But, you were so out of it. I've never seen someone go like that after a fight. Isn't, isn't that dangerous?"

"Yes," I said. "But that's my choice and risk to take. It's the same risk I'd take again if you were also in trouble again. Because that's my job as a warrior. I protect people, even bullies. Just because you treat some people badly doesn't negate you from being saved. We don't have the luxury to make such choices in our line of work. You can't just refuse to save someone just because you aren't fond of them."

He looked down, his head on his hands, the guilt and confusion still there, but some shame as well.

"How, how can you be this way?"

"Like what?"

"Mature, you're like, ten." He looked up.

"I'm thirteen, but then, my life hasn't been typical. I guess I've just learned not to waste time on silly kid things, like bullies or schoolyard politics. Honestly, nothing that happens here at school means anything, because it's school. It's just practice, just a way to get ready. The real world doesn't care about that sort of thing. It doesn't matter what you do in practice, it matters what you do when it's real." I laid back down. "And the person you are when do them is the person you really are."

He seemed to stew on that, his emotions roiling. It was a minute or two before he spoke again and I almost dozed off in that time, which is why it startled me when he spoke again.

"The you, the you in the forest when it was real, that was the real you."

"I guess."

"You're really strong." He said again.

"Strength is relative, but I suppose I'm decent." I replied.

"You're stronger than I am. You're faster, you're a better hunter."

"I'm more experienced." I said again. "Nothing more, nothing less, don't dwell on it. As I said, nothing's changed."

"No, something has." He stood up. "If, if the person I was in the woods is the real me, then I have some work I need to do. If you weren't there, I would have died."

"No one knows that, but it is possible. Is that all? I think I'll go back to sleep." I said, turning onto the pillow, though turning I felt the robe on my cheek and paused as I actually took stock and found I only had the robe on. "Wait, who changed me? In fact, where are my clothes?"

Cardin turned towards me.

"Oh, the nurse changed you. Though my team took your clothes, they figured they'd go down and clean them since…"

I was out of the bed and running towards the door before he finished his sentence. I was in the hallway when I heard the bang that sounded less like the explosion from before, but more like a car backfiring. Still, I saw the spout of smoke from the window of the ground floor of the student dorms.

"God damn it."

* * *

 **So busy. Gosh it's been a busy summer, and it's still going as far as I'm concerned. I'm going to Gen Con next week, and doing a ton of stuff. I in theory have a degree but that does not in practice give me a job so that's also something, I'll be trying to get updates for Sugar Plums in September, so thank you for your patience.**


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"Nope."

The small redheaded girl handed back the notebook to Ruby before standing back onto the chair and leaning into the remains of the ruined washing machines.

"Ah, really? What's wrong with this one?" Ruby looked at the seventh in what was now a series of possible designs for Ume's new arm.

The girl in question didn't even turn from her task before replying.

"Well, for one, the design you made shows very clearly that it's also a gun."

"So? Guns are cool!"

"Guns are dangerous." She countered as she rummaged around in the destroyed machine.

"You have a sword on your arm!"

She actually rose her head up from the mess and looked at Ruby.

"A sword cannot misfire, overheat or, in this case, hit anyone by accident who isn't within my very short arm's length. Can you hand me a wrench?"

Ruby crossed her arms and pouted.

"Those things only happen if you mishandle a gun. If you keep regular maintenance it's perfectly safe."

"Uh huh, what makes you think I know how to do that?"

"I can teach you!" She squeaked out the same argument she gave Ume the other six times.

"Which won't be necessary because my new arm is not going to also be a gun."

She started to glance around towards the tool box and tried to absently lean over to get the wrench while leaning over the edge of the damaged machine. The dirty t-shirt rubbed against the metal edge, but she was still short and her arms dangled as she tried to reach for the wrench. Ruby reached over and picked it up, handing it to her.

"Thank you. Anyway, it also can't have an external motor design, it'll snag the fabric of my sleeve."

"But there's not enough room otherwise, not with your sword." Ruby turned and picked up a burnt ruined husk. "And if this happens every time you... do whatever you did, it's clearly not efficient."

The burnt piece of wood was intricately carved with more of the squiggles Ume called seals. Several of the squiggles were burnt all the way through, making round holes that went through it.

"That's why we're making a metal sheath this time, though I need to get enough metal out of here and…" Ume seemed to be tugging hard on something until Ruby heard a clang and the redhead held out in her single hand the washing machine motor. "Still in one piece. It's pretty small too."

She turned it over, looking at it. It was about the size of two or three apples bunched together.

"It's huge. You're the one who said we needed to stay compact." Ruby looked forward. "What are you going to do with it anyway?"

"Take it apart, see how it works, see what I can replicate and link to the seals." She set it down on the table. "I mean, what else is anyone going to do with it?"

"Not much after you destroyed it." Ruby shrugged.

"Hey! That wasn't my fault! They took my clothes without my permission."

"They were trying to be nice, though I guess it makes sense that if someone washed it with all the things you could carry they would come out like that."

Ruby was well aware that Ume's other two arms were destroyed in the washing machine as well, she had been nearby and been one of the first to get to the washing room where the machine had exploded leaving three fourths of Team CRDL dazed and confused.

"Wait, does that mean you caused the first…"

"As I said, it's not my fault." Ume huffed out. "And don't go telling anyone about it either. I get enough flak from Professor Goodwitch about what happened."

"Is that why she doesn't like you?"

Ume shrugged her shoulders as she hopped off the chair.

"That or maybe because of that comment about her skirt. I know you said they're combat skirts, but isn't it just awkward jumping around in that thing?"

"Not really." Ruby said. "They're layered after all, and I wear tights too just in case. I don't think Weiss's skirt would flip up even if she didn't have the layers, her glyphs mess a lot with gravity and stuff."

"Really? Is that how she can fight in heels?"

"I don't know for sure, I do know she can dance in them though."

"You've seen her dance?"

"She does it when she vacuums." Ruby said, flicking out her scroll. "Wanna see?"

"Damn right I do."

Ruby leaned down to hold the scroll level with the smaller girl. It was a bit surreal dealing with someone shorter than her. While there were some people in her class who were, she didn't really hang out with them and all of Yang's friends were bigger than her cause they were 17. It was nice in a way, it didn't make her feel like the odd man out at the lunch table. No, even if she was the same height as Ume the other girl would definitely be odder, though in a cool way.

The girl let out a light laugh as the video ended with Weiss realizing she had been caught and yelling at the camera for its deletion.

"She should dance more often, she looks more peaceful that way."

"Well, it's not like there's much call for it. Though I guess there is going to be a dance for the festival."

"Guess that'll be fun." Ume said as she grabbed the notebook off the table, her still greasy hand smudging the pages a little bit.

"Anyway, we still need to get some proper blueprints laid out and some designs. You did say the engraver can rotate the metal?"

"It'd be easier to do if it's a sheet, but yeah, it should."

Ruby picked up the design. "Is it really no good?"

"Actually I like the design you did for the multi-jointed pulley system, been having trouble getting it to not snag on our earlier designs."

Ume pointed at the picture with her wrapped sword arm. It was still covered in the tape and cushioning to prevent its edge from hitting anything.

"You like it?" Ruby said. "I have a similar setup in my baby, though not quite as many. It turns and locks when I set it in scythe mode."

Ruby looked at the picture and started making notes.

"Though we'll need some metal wheels in there if you want anything sturdy. I can't believe you made that arm almost entirely out of wood."

"Metal is more expensive where I come from, and as I keep reminding you, that and all my previous arms are prototypes. As will this one be. Though if we can get an engraver to accurately put the seal into a metal sheath it will fix the overheating problem when I make lightning."

Ume set the paper down on the desk with the other scattered torn and mussed up notes she had retrieved from the wreckage.

Honestly, Ruby couldn't make heads or tails of anything without pictures. Ume had read them to her and remade a few, but the parts about squiggles made no sense to her, or how it was powered.

"If we could get a dust battery in there it'd be way easier to run the engine."

"Until it runs out, and then I need another dust battery."

"Why are you so firm on that, couldn't you just get a bunch and store them in your wraps?"

"It won't matter, because they aren't rechargeable. Dust isn't common where I'm from, Ruby, so once I run out that's it and that means back to square one." She leaned over the desk. "Chemical batteries might work, but then I have to keep with the possibility that they might break and burn the inside with battery acid."

"Well, if you have to use the squiggles, couldn't you just change them to get more energy?"

"The seals work by collecting ambient electricity to charge, so I don't know what increasing the juice for inputting would take or even what it would do. They aren't my seals, so trying to change the design would have, well, explosive results."

"But why? It's just a design, a weird design, but a design. Why would changing something change it so much?"

"Because seals are, well, they're like..." The girl's face paused in thought. "I guess, it's like a hunter weapon, like it's personal. An extension of that person's style and preference. Sure, other people could use it, though not as well, and sure, someone could try and change the weapon, but not being the maker it could be disastrous. Where I'm from seal making is considered an art because people who make seals have to make them from the ground up. There is no method that is actually repeatable, it's all from scratch so no two seals from different makers are alike."

"Then why don't you make your own seals?"

"The short version is, I really don't have the patience, or the mindset." She sort of bobbed her head left to right. "I've tried, but the entire process frustrated the hell out of me. The advice I got on it didn't help, nor did trying to find "my style"." She used air quotes.

"I dunno, I've always prefered the mechanical side of things. Machines are predictable, even more complex machines are usually just variations of a handful of different parts which all do roughly the same thing, just on a different scale. There's also a lot more solid knowledge about it and manuals in stuff just about dealing with it, so you don't have to just go in blind and hope it works. It's just not the same for sealing. It's why I leave that much to my sister. She designs all the seals I use."

"She must be pretty good at it with all the things you do with it."

"I actually have no scale for how good or bad she is honestly, because people who make seals are so rare. A lot of the time, the stuff she makes just doesn't work. Sometimes it works, but it's too strong, or too weak, and almost all the time it blows up in her face. About the only thing she can make reliably is storage seals."

Ruby really didn't get it, but then she didn't get the seals at all. By all accounts they made no sense, but then maybe that's why Ume didn't understand them either. Ume, despite all the things she did or could do that didn't make sense, she generally did. As far as Ruby could tell she didn't say things she didn't mean, she didn't do anything without a purpose and she didn't mince words or hesitate when she needed help on something.

"Well, those are pretty amazing." Ruby pointed out as she looked at the curly designs.

"We're still going to have to work around it, the energy output is at least scalable for now." Ume said, picking up a pencil and starting to sketch. "A motor would help with that, but there's the issue of weight and balance."

"You're pretty strong, right?" Ruby leaned down. She knew the girl had picked up Jaune the other day from what Pyrrha told her. It was really startling to learn that Jaune had such a severe allergy.

"It'd still throw me off, and it is a prototype for a model to be used by everyone." She looked up. "Which is why, it has to be lightweight, easy to use, easy to maintain and if possible easy to produce inexpensively."

"That sounds like it would be really hard to do."

Ruby knew her weapon alone probably cost thousands of lien to make. It used top grade materials after all, it was the same with many hunter weapons, they were designed to be top of the line and last against harsh combat conditions. What Ume was trying to make, even if it sounded simple, was probably fairly complex. While there were replacement limbs available, they were really expensive. A lot of older hunters couldn't afford them and had to retire as a result.

But then, if it could happen, then a lot of people would certainly be happy. Ruby couldn't fault Ume on that at all. People got hurt all the time and though some people with semblances could heal it was not only rare, but it was almost impossible to find someone who could regrow limbs.

"Oh, almost certainly, but anything worth doing is rarely ever easy."

The redhead smiled at Ruby as she picked up the motor again.

"Now let's crack this open and see how we can integrate it into prototype number eight."

* * *

I thought I was pretty good at mechanics. I believed I had a good grasp of machines and how they operated. I wasn't an engineer of course, but I could understand how the strain and energy of a machine could be processed so it could do a task. I knew how to make things straight so they didn't tangle, and move things around. It seemed to be working, that it would manage to move properly with the new parts. Until the damn thing burst into flames.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…"

I practically hurled the smoking chunk of metal and wood off my arm across the room. The outburst startled Danny, who was sitting on the table grooming himself. He then jumped off the table and ran to the corner, away from the smoke.

I ran as well, though towards it as I held out my arm and summoned a small water jutsu to douse the flames. There was a fire extinguisher on the wall, but you needed two hands to operate it and I was still currently down to one. The water smothered the flames, but it was still a smoking wreck. Thankfully the workshop was well ventilated and the smoke was taken away as I approached the mess that had taken up several days work.

Picking up the arm, I flipped it over to figure out what the hell had gone wrong. It was burnt on the inside, though not completely destroyed. I could see the smoke still seeping out of the small engine that was set to the side. It wasn't a very strong engine, just one put together from a kit to try and see if it could take some of the burden of movement off the seals. But now it was burnt out completely.

Reaching inside, I pulled out the metal sheath for my sword to examine the seal engraved with a machine. I'd recreated the design and we'd put it flat and bent it to shape, I'd then embedded the special ink into the design before putting a coating on it to prevent it from washing away. The design was intact and still plenty warm at that.

"Maybe it pulled in too much power."

Danny started to move closer as I looked at it, smelling the smoke and making a wincing face.

"It's not that bad." I said as I started to open the chassis.

It was around that time my scroll started to vibrate. Pulling it out I saw the timer I'd set for dinner had gone off. I let out a sigh and stood up.

I was on strict orders not to push myself after what happened in the forest by the nurses. Which meant I couldn't skip meals or stay up late. I tried to explain what happened, but that just made the nurses even more concerned about it. Honestly, it's like they'd never heard of simple exhaustion before.

Given, chakra exhaustion was a little different. Sometimes it came as a massive crash, much like the crash of adrenaline that lasted a few days, sometimes, like what happened to me, it made you catatonic. It was because the body was running on minimum chakra expenditures, so it drained someone's focus and made them only react to immediate threats. If you added combat drugs to the mix it amplified the effect and caused you to simply black out. I was well acquainted with that of course, but since I didn't have any combat drugs I hadn't done so since the concussion forced me to during initiation.

Not that I had much cause to exhaust myself here.

Letting out a sigh, I leaned down and Danny jumped on my shoulders as I headed off. I started absently checking my messages. I had one or two from Neo, mostly she wanted me to check out a cafe, I.E. she wanted me to pay for her to clean out their ice cream stocks, a couple of updates from Coco's fashion blog that I followed on the Codex, a message from Nora saying she accomplished her goal of getting Jaune to work out this morning with accompanying pictures of him laying exhausted flat on his back, some links to interesting history articles from Oobleck and some reminders for end of semester testing I got from the student media network.

What I didn't get was a message from Ruby, which was unusual since she had gone into town to look at the prices for some better engines and send me pictures. Skimming through I sent a text to her.

 _Hey, what happened to you today?_

I started walking out before I got the buzzing back.

 _It's complicated._

I blinked as I walked out the building and texted back.

 _Complicated how, did you forget about the engines?_

There was the dots of an incoming message as I headed into the cafeteria. The buzz came while I was in line and I didn't look until I'd sat down.

 _There was an argument between Weiss and Blake, then Blake ran away and I'm not sure what to do._

 _An argument? About what?_

I started eating before the message came back.

 _I don't know if I can talk about it._

I tapped my fingers, did I want to know? Well, yes, but the point was, should I know? I didn't know Blake very well. Well, scratch that, I didn't talk to Blake very often. Blake was very good at schooling her emotions, so nothing really showed. The only reason I could tell what she was feeling was because I was effectively cheating. In fact, she hid very well that she was almost as angry as I had been when Cardin started bullying Velvet. It was part of the reason I was so upset neither she nor anybody on her team did anything about it.

I also knew Danny liked her, enough so that he would seek her out whenever he felt the urge and she would sometimes physically bring him back to me. Danny wasn't generally a bad judge of character and Blake always handled him gently, as she did me when I passed out in the library. Still, it sounded like a private matter and even if Ruby really did want to talk about it, it was probably something better discussed in person rather than over a scroll or by text.

 _Did you want to go into town tomorrow to look at parts? The engine blew up when I tested it earlier so we'll need to go find a new one._

There was a pause on the other line before she typed again.

 _I guess, but what if Blake doesn't come back by morning?_

I let out a sigh and typed.

 _Assuming she has left Beacon it's not likely she'll leave Vale. In the city there are few things that can compete with a huntress, even one in training, so I doubt she'll be in any immediate danger._

I set my scroll down and started to eat again before the words hit the screen.

 _What if she doesn't come back?_

I leaned down and thought about it. Could Blake probably disappear into Vale and never come back, yes, yes she could. Would she? Depends really, but she had just settled in with her team. She had been apprehensive about her surroundings for a good bit before finally relaxing into her everyday surroundings. She liked her team, she liked her partner and she liked Beacon, especially the library. She probably wouldn't just leave and not come back, especially if she just ran off. She probably left all her stuff behind, otherwise they would have been able to catch her. Still, Ruby was clearly worried and unless I gave her something more solid than "she probably wouldn't do that because of logic" it wouldn't really cut it. People weren't logical, after all.

 _Then we'll just have to find her and bring her back._

I didn't get an immediate reply for that, but then I probably wouldn't. If it reassured her, it reassured her. Regardless, I started thumbing through the scroll and assessed my options. I'd essentially just made a promise to Ruby. Ruby who helped me with my own projects with enthusiasm without asking anything in return, Ruby who was essentially Jaune's best friend, and Ruby who despite a rough start had been part of the group to safely get me to Beacon after I passed out in the forest. It wouldn't do for me to be unprepared to help her when the time came.

* * *

 **Going onto the Stray. Been a bit hectic, I got suspended from my job, which, well it's not great. I'm thinking of opening a , though I have to think about what I can offer. Obviously I wouldn't make chapter releases only, as fanfiction is supposed to be free fun. I suppose I could do art, you guys have seen some of my drawings on tumblr, I could also make jewelry or give story advice if someone really wanted it. I wouldn't take too much input on the story, though I'll take song requests. Still not sure how to do that, but well I need to get another job, hopefully in my field now that I've graduated but that's not likely right away, if only because of the situation of companies firing senior staff so hey can be replaced with new people they can pay less than the people who were fired re-enter the field looking for the same entry level positions I'd apply for but beating me out cause they have years of experience.**

 **It's not a great situation for college graduates.**

 **Anyway, I'll be trying to alternate every other week with PITD and Sugar Plums, I got a bit delayed because I live in the southeastern US and had some difficulty connecting due to outages caused by Hurricane Irma. Another hurricane is coming in about a week, which is going to be super funtastic.**

 **Anyway, reviews are welcome.**


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The cafe was packed with the weekend crowd when we entered, it was a privately owned venue with two stories that catered mostly to a younger crowd. I knew of it because it was one of Coco's hangouts as being trendy and fashionable. I choose it because this trait meant that it probably had a good selection and quality of product and also because if it was popular it would make a good place to meet to chat privately.

Most people assumed private conversations and clandestine meetings should occur in quiet out of the way places where no one would see or hear you. While those were useful in some instances such places were easier to be listened in on because they were so quiet and out of the way. Nevermind explaining why you were there if you were caught was always troublesome.

Places like this were much more preferable because the ambient noise which made it difficult to hold conversations more than a few feet apart also made it difficult to listen in discretely. You didn't need a reason for why anyone would hang out at a coffee shop for light conversation and there was ample crowd to get lost in if the need arises.

Plus, they had cookies, which was reason enough for Ruby to join me.

When I'd come to get her in the morning she seemed relieved at the out to not spend the day in her dorm. Weiss was still fuming as she claimed to be going over her notes for the end of terms exams and Yang was awkwardly messing with her scroll while she waited for her partner to return. Ruby was still quiet and contained as we took the bullhead into town but once we were in the shop she ran to the display to look at the confectionaries under it.

I smiled at the enthusiasm more than anything. It was a nice thing to focus on in the crowd. That's how I usually dealt with the sensations that radiated off people with awakened auras, of which here there were several. I'd found out very quickly that unless I wanted to feel a mix of everyone's emotions (which is both unpleasant, confusing and rather nauseating) I needed to hone in on one person as a sort of anchor to help me set my own mental state. Usually it was whomever was closest, proximity was a factor of intensity. It's why I prefered sitting next to Ren at meals, he always radiated an aura of calm that made it easy focus on eating, but lots of the other members of team JNPR were also easy to focus on. Jaune was awkwardly casual and easy going, Nora energetic and confident, Pyrrha anxious but thrilled whenever she was included normally. It was just a positive energy in general with that group.

Team RWBY wasn't that bad either. Yang's good cheer, with Blake's quiet amusement, Ruby's enthusiasm and Weiss's confidence and grace. It meshed well in most cases though it was clear there was an impasse of some sort between Blake and Weiss.

As we sat down with several overpriced pastries and cups of hot chocolate onto cushions at a low table Ruby started into the treats with gusto as I glanced around and set an air bubble around us. Ruby paused as she was biting into a cookie to look around.

"Woah, did the noise just turn down?"

"Dampening technique, no one will be able to tell what we're saying, even if they were paying attention."

I said as I grabbed a brownie.

"So, what was the argument about."

I just listened for a few minutes while Ruby broke down what happened. She spoke quickly and got more animated the more into the conversation she got. At the end she held out her hands.

"And then she ran away, and Weiss doesn't seem to care, and Yang wants to go find her, but we don't know where she went and everything's super awkward, and, and…"  
She leaned down taking in a breath.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Who says you have to do anything?"

I finally added.

"I'm the team leader, and this is a team problem. What if Blake doesn't come back, or if she does come back what if she and Weiss hate each other? What if this causes us to all fall apart?"

"That's a lot of what ifs. People have arguments all the time Ruby, it's not that big a deal."  
I said.

"It sounded way more serious than that. I mean if Blake's a part of the White Fang then that means there's no way she and Weiss can get along. The Schnee dust company has been fighting them for years."

"Even if it's serious, even if it takes some time it probably isn't as bad as it seems."

"But, but we're supposed to be a team. If they hate each other then we can't be a team anymore, we can't break up so soon we haven't even gotten past our first year."

Ruby looked at me exuding the hopelessness she felt. I suppose this was probably the first major argument she'd ever had with her team. She was supposed to be the leader, but she also the youngest of them. I at least knew how that felt.

I leaned forward and handed her one of the giant cookies we purchased. She started into it with gusto the stress releasing a bit from her aura at the consumption of the oversized comfort food.

"You're focusing too much on what might happen. It isn't something that can be accurately predicted so it is in fact irrelevant."

"But…"

She opened.

"Don't talk with your mouth full. First, let's break this down shall we. First, Blake either was or is currently a member of the White Fang, does that contradict anything you know about Blake?"

"Well um,"  
Ruby took another bite and thought about it.

"I guess it doesn't, I mean Blake never really talks about her past, or her family, or how she got into Beacon."

"Does Blake seem like someone who would work for the White Fang?"

"No, of course not. Blake's not a terrorist. She's so quiet and likes books. She likes to curl up in warm places and makes light jokes. She's a great fighter too, her weapon is so complicated and she uses it so well she…"  
Ruby trailed of before she finished her thought.

"She's combat trained."

"Yes, she is. Did she mention going to a hunter school before she got here?"

"No, she said she tested in. The entrance exams are really hard for this school."  
Ruby looked down.  
"Do you think it was an act, that she's a spy or something."

"No, not really. What use would the White Fang have for infiltrating Beacon? After all, hunters protect everyone."  
In theory, she didn't doubt some hunters might have prejudiced.

"I doubt she's here for Weiss, if she was, you guys share a room. She could have hurt her at any point in the last two months but she didn't."  
Even if there was some longer game or plot if she was really a spy she wouldn't have so carelessly revealed herself over some minor spat with the Schnee heiress. Well if she was a good spy at least. If she really thought of Beacon as some sort of job for infiltration she probably wouldn't have gotten attached enough to be affected by Weiss's words.

"That's true. But why would she even be part of terrorists, aren't they bad guys."

"In their minds, and the minds a lot of faunus, no."  
I leaned down with a hand on my cheek as I took a deep sip from my hot chocolate.  
"Ruby people don't JUST become terrorists because they want to hurt people. There is always a reason, a cause and effect. Violence like that doesn't happen in a vacuum."

"Blake did say something about being pushed around."

"It was a bit more serious than that. If you look at some of the laws instituted at the end of the war, there was a lot of laws that allowed blatant discrimination against faunus. In Atlas there were laws that allowed employers, businesses, public schools and hunter schools to exclude faunus. Then there was the incidents with the mines."  
I let out a sigh.

"If my sources are right, and I have multiple ones, than the conditions there were horrible. The faunus were little better than slaves and they had little other choice. Until about five years ago."

"What happened five years ago?"

"Violent revolts."  
I leaned down.

Ruby seemed to be thinking about it.

"I think heard about that, there was a massive cave in and the faunus camps turned on the company. It caused a lot of damage to the dust productions, it lasted weeks."

"And immediately after that there was news coverage, massive examinations into the working conditions of the mines and several new laws were instituted, because of violence. You know the White Fang existed for fifteen years before that happened. Fifteen years of work did nothing, but several weeks of violence accomplished something."

"But that's wrong, you can't change things with violence."

"Then what do you call war Ruby?"

I said holding her gaze for a moment. She seemed to flinch at that.

"Look, I'm not saying they are right, or that they are justified, but this isn't an issue of black and white, good and bad. At least, not purely so. The White Fang started with good intentions."

"But everything that happened to Weiss, it couldn't have been easy."

"I know. Weiss isn't her company but the wealth her family has, at least the wealth that they gained in the last two decades was built on the backs of faunus. But as I said, the White Fang aren't justified. Her grievances are perfectly valid and it likely made her life hell even though she had literally no say in it. Neither side is sinless, so neither Weiss or Blake are actually wrong."

"Then what do I do?"

Ruby said.

"Well what do you think?"

I said.

"I think, I don't know. Weiss is still mad and Blake is still gone. I don't think anything can happen until we find Blake. But if no one is wrong, how can I fix it?"

"Only Blake and Weiss can fix whatever is happening. Regardless we don't have that much information. We know Blake is a faunus now, which does affects the places she would go within the city."

"Wait Blake's a faunus but she…."  
Ruby's thoughts caught up with her words.  
"Always wears a ribbon, and was part of the White Fang."

"And has yellow eyes."  
I added.

"Which I don't know how common that is here, but is pretty strange where I'm from."

"It's kind of silly looking back at it."

"Eh, not really, people don't really see some things unless they're looking for it."  
I leaned down and took another sip of my hot chocolate.  
"Anyway, I have a few ideas on how we can find Blake, if we're thorough we should be able to locate her before the weekend is out."

"Really!?"  
Ruby nearly jumped with excitement.

"Sit down, and really, it's not a sure thing but we can probably find her. She's not exactly discreet."

Assuming she hadn't disguised herself, a very attractive faunus woman in distinctive clothing who may have her weapon would stand out.

"I have some friends on the street who can help and if they don't come through we'll just do a more systematic sweep of the city tomorrow."

"Okay, then I guess that's fine."

"Assuming she doesn't return tonight that is."  
I finished my drink before standing and dispelling the jutsu.

"I certainly hope she does. Our room's really awkward with Blake not being there, and Weiss being there being all mad."

Ruby finished her cookie and picked up her drink as we started towards the door.

It took a second to push through the crowds to get outside. It was a relief not to be around so many people. Even just focusing on Ruby it got uncomfortable around so many awakened auras at once. Though in this I felt something enter my range almost immediately that made me pause. The sensation in question was accompanied by a girl who turned the corner. She was a little shorter than Ruby, with orange hair and green eyes much like Nora. Unlike Nora she had round features making her look around Ruby's age. But that wasn't what I found odd about her. No what was odd about her was her aura, or really the aura of her emotion. It was anticipation, pure anticipation. Not normal anticipation either, which had undertones of other emotions, fear, joy, eagerness, JUST anticipation. The moment she rounded the corner and saw Ruby her aura lit up and changed to joy, JUST joy. No gradient, no gradual transition, like flipping a switch she went from anticipation to joy and it actually stop and stare as she spoke.

"Salutations friend Ruby."  
The girl said in her overly cheerful voice, creepily cheerful with the flat color of her emotions hitting my senses.

"Hi Penny, I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

Ruby said awkwardness, recognition, some happiness and resignedness pushed off her. A stark contrast to Penny.

"Yes, it is quite pleasant to see you again Ruby."

She smiled and I just stared at her.

"You were looking for Ruby."  
I blurted out a moment later.

There was a switch, just a full switch to curiosity as she turned to me. She looked me up and down for a moment.

"Why do you say that,"  
She paused then looked up at Ruby.

"Friend of Ruby?"

"This is Ume, she's my friend."

Ruby turned to me, a bit concerned and curious.

"Is, something wrong."

"Um,"  
I faltered.

"I, don't know."  
I said looking at Penny again.

"Are you, feeling okay?"

It switched again, this time to joy.

"I feel sensational, thank you for asking. I am not used to people asking me that, does that mean you want to be my friend."

"I guess so, my name is Ume. We were…"  
I actually forgot. It was so unnerving being next to her that I couldn't actually concentrate. It wasn't as bad as the grimm, nothing was as bad as the grimm but it felt strange. It wasn't, it wasn't natural to just switch from one emotion to another. Was it a semblance? I had no idea but it felt weird.

"We were going to the hardware store to look at engines."  
Ruby said.

"Because the one for your arm didn't work."

"Right, right,"

I said after a breath.

"Your arm? Why would your arm need an engine?"  
Penny looked down at my arms. She couldn't see both of them because I had my sleeves out long to obscure the fact that one of my hands was just wrapped sword on a stub. It was too her side.

"It's a project for a mechanical prosthetic."

Understanding hit Penny, then turned to curiosity, then confusion. It was a swift transition with no inbetween emotions, like a slideshow.

"Why would you be doing that, mechanical prosthesis are available through special order from Atlas? My father especially designed some incredibly effective prosthetics in the last two years."

"Oh, who's your father?"

Ruby looked interested and I was somewhat interested too. A little off put, but interested.

"He's, well I'm not supposed to say, but he is a great engineer and mechanical expert. One of the best in Atlas."  
Pride went off her, before switching to curiosity.

"Surely you can just use one of his designs."

"There's a lot of reasons why I'm not."  
I said trying to concentrate without gawking at Penny.

"But regardless we should probably head towards the shop if we want to get back to Beacon before dinner."

"I see, well may I accompany you to said shop?"  
Anticipation again.

I wanted to answer but Ruby did instead.

"Uh, sure, if you want."

Ruby actually paused.

"Is that alright with you Ume."

"I guess."  
I was still a little wary. I had no idea what was with this girl but it was not normal. Said girl seemed to stay on curiosity and waited about five or six seconds longer than necessary to reply before switching straight to joy.

"Sensational, I have found a shop in this area that has such wares and we can go there immediately."

"How did you…"

She had already turned to walk away. Ruby looked at me still confused but adapting more quickly than I was. What the hell?

* * *

The streets of Vale weren't that crowded on Sunday morning either because they were busy or currently sleeping off the previous night's activities. Weiss had sometimes done Saturday night parties or galas with her families but even so they were expected to get up at a certain time and start their morning exercises all the same. It wouldn't due for a Schnee to be late or breakfast or any event the family did together. It was different at Beacon though. They set their own schedule and most weekends her team was content to mostly sleep in if need be. She didn't, a life time of early rising couldn't be broken easily but this morning it hadn't been necessary to cause them to rise and leave early.

After all half the team was eager to find the last wayward member.

" _Tracking has you in a small scale shopping district, is that accurate Yang."_

The high pitched voice of the class auditor chimed in her ear.

" _Seems so, though I don't think she would be in this area."_

Yang replied a moment later.

" _No, probably not, but it's on the way to the poorer residential districts and that's what I'd like you to check out."_

Ume said.

Weiss herself was near some high rises set by the waterfront, checking around that area to see if there was any small cafes or shops Blake was hiding in. Though at the suggestion she couldn't help but add her two lien as she pressed her hand to the earpiece she had connected to her scroll.

"I'm not comfortable sending Yang there, there's often since those areas tend to have more crime, given what we now know about Blake."

" _Reported crimes are more common in low income areas because the police probably find crime that happens in high income areas too far above their pay grade to investigate."_

The sharp response by the higher voice probably caught Weiss off guard.

"Statistics say violent crimes happen in more frequency in lower income areas."

Weiss added a moment later.

" _More likely they're reported more frequently. For the right price I'm sure common officers can be persuaded to look the other way."_

" _Guys, can we focus on the task at hand, Blake's still missing. Anyway, it doesn't matter if crime happens more frequently there, what are they going to be able to do to me?"_

Yang pitched in from her

" _Unless they coordinate not much, but more to the point you blend in more easily and don't look like as big of a target as Ruby or Weiss."_

" _Hey!"_

Their team leader sounded indignant on the other line.

" _I can take care of myself."_

" _You most certainly can, but you don't look it so people are more likely to try something with you. I know if I walked into the bad part of town someone might try to take advantage of me as well and with how famous Weiss is someone would certainly try to mug her because of how much money would be on the line even. All of which would waste time and distract us from searching."_

Ume said with finality.

It was a well reasoned response. Weiss knew the risk of going into places without an escort, even upscale establishments and hotels she never went without a regiment of guards, some she could see, several she couldn't to protect her. She could protect herself now, but it would waste time and be inefficient however.

"It'd be more efficient if we just you know, called the police."

" _Assuming Blake has any sense or skill, they probably wouldn't find her. If she became aware they were looking for her, she would likely flee the city."_

The response was instant and from the small girl who was basically their switch board on this.

Ume was currently at a terminal at Beacon using a mapping program that was tracking them by their scrolls and directing them through the city on pre-planned routes while they separated and looked for Blake. Weiss was impressed by how orderly and organized the operation was despite everything. The young girl had apparently promised Ruby that she would help the day before and appeared this morning with the ear pieces she'd gotten while in town. A quick program installed and she could monitor their progress and direct them on routes they had missed. It was almost Atlas like in it's simplicity and efficiency, though Weiss probably wouldn't have thought of it because it wouldn't have occurred to her to do it.

She would have rather simply waited out whatever Blake was thinking she was doing so the girl would come back and apologize for running off like that.

As Weiss went into the stores she showed the picture of Blake off her scroll and got the same response several times, no one had seen the girl. It didn't surprise Weiss but then after finding out about Blake's past she couldn't find it in her to be surprised about anything anymore. As the hours went on it seemed so exceptionally bizarre that this was happening at all because it didn't fit Blake at all.

The girl had been her teammate, a quiet refuge away from the pair of rowdier sisters who was more than content to just sit in silence as she read while Weiss studied or went over things on her scroll. Even if she had known from the start that Blake was a faunus she wouldn't have minded the company. Ruby and Yang were sisters so already so comfortable with each other, it was nice not only to have someone not subject to their madness. It helped that she was an intelligent thoughtful individual, never pushing people into situations or reacting poorly to very small amounts of stimuli. She really liked having conversations with someone at her level, but now this had thrown her for a loop. Being part of the White Fang was something entirely different, they had been the enemy, they had done so much, they….

" _Status report Weiss."_

"Pardon."

" _Status report, have you had any luck in that area?"_

"No, no one in this area has seen her."

" _Noted, I'll direct you to the next area for searching."_

"I'm not sure it'll do any good."

Weiss said a little slip.

" _You sound like you don't even want to find her."_

Yang said through her piece.

"Don't be stupid, of course I do. I'm just afraid of what she'll say when we find her. The innocent never run Yang."

" _Now that is absolute bullshit."_

The tone made Weiss stop mid step as she held a hand to her mike. She thought she misheard because the class auditor had said it in such a matter of fact manner, but once she processed it her voice went a bit higher.

"Excuse me?"

" _I said, that's bullshit. Whatever else you think, whatever notions you have about what's happening I'll tell you right now that is false. Innocent people will run if they fear persecution."_

"Why would the innocent fear persecution, in a just and fair socie…."

" _Society is far from just and in most cases anything but fair. There is prejudice, there is preconceptions in place that would put undeserved scrutiny on people because of the social class or their species. You should never judge someone as guilty just because they run away from situations where they might end up imprisoned or worse."_

"But we'd never do that. Even if she was a faunus, even if she was part of, part of them. We wouldn't have her sent to prison. She's our teammate."

There was silence on the other line before Ume spoke again. Her voice was less sharp and more soft.

" _Do you think she knows that?"_

"What?"

" _You said you wouldn't do that, and I believe you. But do you think Blake knows that? Did you tell her that? Did your argument at any point have any reassurance that you wouldn't turn against her or turn her into the police for being part of a terrorist organization?"_

Weiss blinked as she went over her words. It had been a long argument back and forth. About faunus rights, about collateral damage, about how nothing they did helped their cause but had she said that. No, she didn't. She didn't even consider it a possibility until now honestly. She'd never had imagine Blake had been with the White Fang and she'd left so quickly after revealing herself.

"No, I guess she wouldn't."  
Weiss started walking again.

"But then that's why we have to find her, and set her straight."

" _Probably wouldn't use that tone, but yes that is the plan. Keeping heading straight and you'll head to the next area. We should be there so….."_

The explosion reverberated as it was heard through all three headsets. Weiss's head spun to look towards the area where smoke was rising.

"Where?"

" _The docks to the southeast of your position."  
_ The voice was urgent as there was the sound of movement.

"How fast do you think it'll take for use to get there."

" _Depends on you, the maps only account for normal walking speed on land routes, I'd suggest you take to the roofs. Ruby you're closest what's the situation?"_

" _Almost there, there's a shipment of dust at the docks, and yes it's the White Fang and I see Blake with the monkey boy, and, and, Torchwick!"_

The surprise was clear but Weiss was already moving. Using glyphs she propelled herself forward and up the side of the nearest building. The smoke was visible in the distance. She could get there but she'd have to be careful not to fall or get hurt. She had a teammate to find.

* * *

 **Hey guys, working on stuff, doing stuff, busy with stuff, ugh, so much stuff.**

 **Reviews would be nice.**


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

I sprinted down the hallway holding the medium scroll I'd taken from the library with the mapping program.

My hands fluttered furiously across the keyboard as I pulled up maps and data. Everything I could, about Torchwick, about the nearest police station, anything relevant. I also sent a message to the teachers on my scroll, just a mass text with coordinates and the basic situation, but it didn't seem like enough.

"Ruby, Torchwick was there? What else, what type of scene do we have?"

 _"There's lots of White Fang and ahh!"_

The sound of gunfire filled my headset.

"Ruby!"

 _"I'm okay, I ran out of the way, but they have bullheads with active artillery."_

Shit! That was bad. Almost all bullheads had guns you could activate, it's why you needed several dozen qualifications and checks to pilot one legally. It was a necessary measure because of flying grimm, which meant they were powerful and had a good range on them. I'd seen videos of ads of them basically tearing through large to medium size grimm. Considering how tough grimm were, that meant they could likely do the same for civilians or hunters with lower aura.

"Weiss and Yang are in route, get to ground and cover."

 _"But Blake is fighting Torchwick."_

"Which means the bullheads won't shoot at her."

I glanced again at the little dots I'd marked in the map with the tracking program. Weiss was in route fast, with Yang behind her. But real battle was quick, they just might not get there in time.

"How many bullheads are there?"

 _"I don't know. There's one on the ground, two more are moving in the air."_

"Stay out of the open and snipe the bullheads."

 _"But Blake!"_

"Can you get across the battlefield one hundred percent without the bullheads shooting you down, Ruby? You're fast, but all it takes is a lucky shot and mounted guns are no joke. Use your damn gun design for its purpose and find a place to hide."

I looked at the screen where the dots indicating them were moving. Yang wasn't moving fast enough, she wasn't as fast as Weiss. And even if they did arrive, again, the bullheads were too much of a problem. At that moment I got a message back from Glynda, they were sending out reinforcements. But it wasn't enough.

Shit, shit, shit, what do I do? I could go to the teachers manually, but it would take too long to mobilize or convince them. I couldn't take a school bullhead either because of that reason. Jumping there would be fastest but if I had to fight it would use too much chakra. Damn it all, what else was there, where else could…

As I got outside I heard a voice.

"Oh hey Ume, what are you…"

I turned on my heel and saw Jaune with his team holding out his scroll as an idea popped in my head. I grabbed onto him.

"Jaune, for a moment, try not to barf." I said before I sprinted across the campus.

* * *

The members of the White Fang pushed the two of them against the wall. Ironically, this was the preferable outcome at the moment, them being part of ground cover prevented the bullheads from firing onto their location, but it wasn't a great situation.

Blake held her position and ran forward about the same time Sun did. She hit low, doing a few shallow slices before spinning, pushing her blade out and letting her ribbon grab three more men that she pulled down into the others. There was a bang and Torchwick fired another round out of his cane, either uncaring or unconcerned with the White Fang around them. Blake flipped backwards before a shade took the fire from the blast as she skidded back.

Sun kicked off one of the White Fang members and tried to hit Torchwick with an downward swing. He blocked easily, pushing aside that strike and the follow up with contemptuous ease. A common thief he was not as he pushed through Sun's strikes before pulling back and shooting the ground at Sun's feet, sending him flying backwards into a crate.

"Sun!"

Sprinting forward, she slashed out with her blade on the ribbon to push away the fang on the ground running to take advantage of Sun's downed form. As she did Torchwick shot one at her feet, she only had a moment to dodge back, but found her back against the wall as Torchwick pushed for another shot. Instead of pushing to the side, she ran towards it. The fire hit her double as she pushed to the side and did a quick slash to down the ones trying to get at Sun.

"Cute, an animal protecting her mate. Too bad you've been outmatched." Torchwick said with a smile as he held up his cane and attempted to fire a blast.

Blake stood fast, if only because moving would put Sun in harm's way. She couldn't leave the monkey faunus whose only sin today was trying to lend her a hand. There was a bang, but not a close one.

Torchwick jumped to the side as a round buried itself into the pavement. Turning, the two of them saw Ruby standing in an open warehouse in the distance where Ruby's cape was visible just under the overhang, her gun out as she took another shot. Torchwick jumped back at the impact.

He tsked as he sidestepped behind one of the dust crates for cover. It was then that Blake took a chance to run forward to hit him. She didn't get two steps before he spun his can at her and unleashed a barrage that pushed her back and depleted her aura even as two clones disappeared before she hit the wall. Her head was pounding as she opened her eyes to see Torchwick walking towards her.

"You kids are such a hassle, you know that? Makes it hard to make an honest living."

He leveled his can at her and she could see the barrel looking up, her eyes focusing on it. Death wasn't an unfamiliar concept to her. She'd been on close missions before when she was with the Fang, knew the risks involved when she believed in the organization she'd practically been born into. It was an odd parallel that the Fang was what would kill her, though not in the way she thought.

She tried to move to get her weapon but he clicked the trigger and she closed her eyes. It exploded and she expected to feel heat as she had in the barrage, a burning in her skin. Instead she felt cold. A bit of ice even hit her face. Opening her eyes she saw something she'd never expected to see as her savior until she got to Beacon.

The white emblem of the Schnee was in front of her as Weiss stood kneeling, her rapier pressed into the ground and a glyph showing clearly under her feet along with the wall of ice she'd conjured to take the blast. The Schnee heiress turned to face Blake, her eyes filled with relief.

"There you are!"

* * *

Ruby looked through her scope to see Weiss appear onto the scene, the wall of ice against the wall holding strong at the blast Torchwick had sent towards her. Breathing a sigh of relief she looked out over the field and caught the sight of a running figure. Turning her scythe she looked out onto the field to see Torchwick running towards the containers. Tapping her ear she logged in.

"Torchwick is getting away!"

Weiss's voice came over the ear piece.

 _"I saw a few bullheads still in the air, we have to be careful if we want to catch him without being shot at."_

"How's Blake?" Ruby asked a moment later.

 _"Bruised, exhausted, but alive."_ Weiss sounded annoyed. _"Which is the least she could do after we spent so long looking for her, what were you thinking coming here?"_

 _"I wanted…"_ The voice on the other line trailed off and Ruby let out a sigh.

"I think I can get a shot on him, but I don't know."

 _"Does Torchwick have an awakened aura?"_

 _"Almost certainly, but the crates are full of dust, and Ruby's rifle might pierce them and, wait, Sun, he's still out there, we have to…"_

"On it!"

Ruby moved her scope to check the field. She saw the monkey boy not too far away, as well as one or two White Fang members moving towards him. Taking careful aim she fired a warning shot that sent the two of them scattering back. She sent two more and they moved away from the monkey faunus.

"I pushed them back. Weiss, have Blake grab Sun, do you think you can catch Torchwick?"

 _"Torchwick? Of course I can."_

 _"He's strong, hunter strong. Sun and I couldn't take him together."_ Blake warned on the other end.

"Slow him down, maybe if I can sneak around we can take him together." Ruby said as she lined up another shot to discourage anyone from getting to Sun.

A moment later she glanced down and saw the ice moving away as Blake and Weiss moved in opposite directions. She observed the scene for a minute before she heard something on the com.

 _"Guys, what's happening? I'm almost there."_

"Yang! Weiss is going to slow down Torchwick, Blake and the monkey faunus are hurt and getting into cover."

 _"I'll head to Blake."_

"No, back Weiss up, I'll cover Blake. Torchwick is tough and be careful, there's bullheads with artillery."

 _"Why didn't you say that first? One moment."_

There was a bang in the distance and she saw a blur of yellow as Yang shot herself forward using her gauntlets down behind some crates. A moment later a rush of shells skidded over the area.

"Yang!"

 _"I'm okay, but those things are annoying, you can't shoot them down."_

"I tried, the surface is too tough and I didn't bring any dust rounds."

Honestly, she hadn't expected a fight, so only had her basic rounds with her gun.

"I think tha… wait." Ruby turned away for a second as she looked up in the sky. Was that? Turning her scope she saw the familiar movement and confirmed. "Did any of you guys summon a rocket locker?"

* * *

The tight space inside the locker shook violently, making my teeth click and threatening to toss me around against the metal walls. I stuck myself to the door as close to the grate as possible so I could see when I was roughly close enough to my location. Honestly, though, as it started hurtling towards the ground I thought maybe I didn't think this all the way through.

Sure, it was faster, sans force speed, than my other options, but landing in this thing might very well knock me around enough to jolt me unconcious. Then there was the gunfire, it was the only thing I could hear over the rattling of the locker. Even the voices in my comm were drowned out by that, only faint mutterings over the racket. But the sound of bullets hitting my container told me I was plenty close enough.

Turning my back to the door I put my shaking hand on my shaking side to my shaking sword and gripped it as best I could as I steeled my concentration. I needed to make it out soon, and then I needed to take care of those damn bullets. Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out, gripping my sword handle I felt my chakra flow as I coated the blade. Slowly, slowly, focus on the flow, the pulse and…

I drew my sword and cut the locker in half before jumping out into the open air. I jumped again and found myself intercepting one of the bullheads. I heard gun fire, but I was just above their spray range, so I turned around and brought my feet up and braced my legs against the windshield as it ran into me.

Oomph.

I had to crouch down as the impact shook my legs and I clenched my teeth. It hadn't been going very fast, but it was much, much heavier than I was and if I hadn't set my feet to stick to it, I would have just slid right over than damn thing. Even as I took a second to adjust myself on the glass I managed to look down into the cockpit to meet the eyes of a very, very confused man staring at me. I gave him an absent wave with my sword before I put it in my teeth so I could do hand seals.

Dragon, tiger, hare, bird, I grabbed my sword and focused the energy.

"(Wind Release: Weasel's Scythe!")

I swung my sword at an angle down the side of the plane. The wind cut and, for a brief moment, nothing. Then gravity set in and the things started to slide off. Well, it was cut off really, the cut went cleanly down the side of the bullhead, through the glass, the metal and onward into the wing, cutting off the edge and sending the bullhead listing to the side. The man under the glass started panicking and gripped the handle to try and stay steady, not that I cared. I quickly went into the opening I created in the windshield and moved to the back of the plane. There were two more guys there. I hit the first one by ramming into his stomach then swinging around, pulling him around and tossing him into the second. I sheathed my sword a moment later and scooped them up with my left arm wraps. I then ran to the front of the plane. The pilot was still wrestling with the controls, trying to gain control of the damaged bullhead, but I used the distraction to embed some senbon into pressure points to knock him out. At such close range there was no way I could miss.

Turning the bullhead away from the warehouses and towards the sea, I grabbed the pilot as well and jumped out of the hole I made. I jumped over the water and landed on a stone ledge near the back of the warehouse. The moment I touched down and let them go one of the White Fang actually tried to get up and attack me.

I spun on my heel, kicking him in the head before he'd even gotten up all the way. Leaning down to the only one still concious I said very quietly.

"Hold still and this won't hurt as much."

He didn't respond, but he didn't have a chance to as I stabbed a senbon into the point and he went down too. Letting out a sigh, I jumped onto the roof. One down, now where wa…

The moment I was in sight a spray of bullets greeted me and I had to sprint along the roof, the bullets trailing behind me. I could feel the vibrations of the roof in my steps as dust and debris followed in the trail of bullets, but I didn't jump until I was close enough to the edge so I could get a good look over the area.

I saw white and yellow against the concrete fighting near one of the parked bullheads, and red running towards the warehouse. But more importantly I saw two more bullheads heading towards me, putting three of them at me, and none of them at the ground.

Good.

Jumping high as another rain of bullets tried to cut through me I held my sword in a false formed hand as I did my seals. Another quick jump, another slash and I sheared the side off the nearest bullhead. I did two jumps; one back, one into the exposed cabin to see the still shocked faces of the faunus again. Honestly, I'd imagine it wouldn't be too surprising after the first time. Only one tried to attack me, but I didn't bother to counter. Instead I extended my kimono to its full width and scooped him and his companion up like fish out of a tank. My outfit wrapped around them as I dashed to the front of the cab and grabbed the pilot as well. I had to stick them to me as I jumped out the side and into a warehouse. It was a less graceful landing as I was less balanced with my left arm being slung to what was essentially a struggling, wiggling, terrorist fruit roll up. I swiped with my sword to do a pushing wind to slow my fall, but I still had to roll into it onto the hard ground with less protection as my clothing was occupied.

I went down with a thump, tumble, my face scraping against the ground and my eyes watering from the dust and smoke. Gah, that smarted. I had to push myself up on my one good arm to look up as I heard an explosion in the distance.

The second plane hadn't hit the water, but the top of one of the warehouses instead. I could see bits of it raining down from there. That was two, one more to go. Though that wasn't going to be fun.

I took a moment to grab my kimono and run chakra through it to check on the contents. Two of them were out, probably from the impact, the third, still struggling, but weakened. All three had several broken bones, and probably a very colorful collection of bruising. They didn't have awakened auras, so it was a good thing I'd wrapped them because they would not have survived that crash.

Not that they would really appreciate my efforts at being gentle.

Pulling free my now bloody and dirty kimono I reached a hand up and stopped the bleeding on my own face. Probably looked a wreck, but maybe... yep, my hairpiece was still there. I moved towards the entrance and immediately decided against it as I dashed away. The third bullhead was less than a hundred feet away and was waiting for me, guns at the ready. You could say this about bullheads, they were a lot more maneuverable than normal planes, and way quieter than helicopters. Mind you, I had a bit of ringing in my ears since I'd landed.

Still, it was waiting for me. Guess they didn't appreciate me taking down their buddies. Well, probably shouldn't keep them waiting.

Of course I didn't go through the open door. Especially when there was a side door to the warehouse. Dashing to it, I broke it down and went down the alley between warehouses. I then flickered under the bullhead, stopping just behind it before I jumped up and sliced the tail end of the flying machine off.

Without the back to balance, it tipped forward, crashing into the ground. Because it was hovering instead of going forward it was a less violent crash, but whomever was inside would not be happy. I only watched long enough to make sure it was down before I scanned the sky looking for, well, anything else. I didn't know how many of these guys were there. But when no other bullhead appeared, nor attackers showed from the shadow I slumped down onto the ground and let myself stop to breathe.

Gods did my, well... most things, hurt. I could practically feel the bruises forming on my left side. I was downright dizzy from the amount of spinning and the exertion, I almost…

I heard a step in the rubble and I spun off my sitting position, sword raised and glowing with chakra at the thre…

"Ume.."

The voice was soft, soft and cautious as Blake moved from the side of a warehouse. She was surprised, worried, a bit in awe, but also very afraid as she looked at me. But I knew it was her. It felt like her, looked like her even more. The ribbon gone as her ears were moved down towards her head.

I let out a little laugh at them. No wonder she wore a bow all the time, no wonder she hid them. As much as she schooled her face it'd be useless if her ears moved like that, just like a cat. She stepped forward again, her ears still low, still fearful and it was then I realized I was still holding up my sword.

"Oh,"

I lowered my weapon and sheathed it. Standing up, I moved forward slowly. She looked, well, she looked a mess. As she got to me I reached out and did a check. Her aura glowed, startling her as I went over her wounds and gave her aura a bit of a push to start healing them.

"You're a little better off than I am, fancy that."

"What did you just do?"

"A little patch up." I said, leaning down a moment. "You'll be okay."

The lean turned more into full on fall. I don't know what triggered it, maybe it was seeing her, but goodness was I tired. She caught me, two hands on my shoulder as I slumped into her. She smelled like a used up firework, dusty and a little burnt. But then, a lot of the area smelled like that. She also felt like shadow, like the shade of a tree on a hot day. Nice and cool, comforting and relaxing. I closed my eyes and felt that cool concern on me as I went into darkness.

* * *

Eyes flaring, Yang bolted towards Torchwick, her fist strong as a missile that could dent steel, only for him to sidestep her and slam his can into the underside of her chin. It knocked her off balance enough to prevent her from getting her follow up attack in as she very nearly bit her tongue, but she stepped back and ran right at him, another punch for his stomach. When he stepped back she spun instead using the feint to give her momentum to hammer arm him with her other hand. He blocked with his cane and returned the attack with an elbow that impacted on her aura but still pushed some wind out of her lungs as he retreated back a step.

"You guys really just don't give up, do you?" He said it leaning forward on his staff and glancing around the battlefield. "Unlike some people"

He sneered at the downed White Fang in the icy field around them. Weiss had turned the area into a skating rink the moment she'd arrived and the Fang went down in short order.

At least she thought she was good at it.

She scowled as she rushed Torchwick again for another exchange. He moved his cane to the side in a move she'd seen him make when rearing to shoot and she dodged to the side as the flare hit the ground and jumped forward again. His weapon was powerful, so she had to press into close quarters to prevent him from knocking them back with it. However he was a slipperier SOB, and had a repose for everything she pushed at him. That didn't stop him from shooting out occasionally to try and catch Weiss, but it had only worked the first time and she'd gotten back up.

Glancing back at her teammates' progress, Yang smiled as she found the bullhead's wings half encased in ice. They'd discussed what to do briefly before engaging.

"Give up, you're grounded."

Torchwick let out a sigh.

"I suppose I'll have to call it a loss, no point sticking around for these animals." He looked at the ground, his boot toe kicking into the nearest White Fang. "Good help is so hard to find."

"You're coming with us." Weiss said, pointing her rapier at him.

Torchwick actually looked to consider it for a moment.

"Actually, no" He tapped his cane on the ground and it bounced into his hands. "As nice as it was to play with you today, I think not. My time is valuable after all, and I don't think I have any more to waste playing with children."

Weiss grit her teeth and moved before Yang could warn her. As fast as she was, he was faster and ice from her sword was knocked aside with the cane and went creeping up Torchwick, then jumped onto the blade. It didn't snap, but the sudden weight made Weiss drop it and she only had a moment before her hands came up to defend the kick to the head. She was knocked to the ground and Yang rushed Torchwick a moment later.

He was already moving, his cane on the ground shot out another blast as he used that to jump to the top of the dust container.

With a frustrated yell Yang moved to jump, but was interrupted as a handful of sand was thrown into her eyes. When did he, ugh!

As she rubbed her eyes free she found that the man in white was already gone. Yang used a charge to push herself up, but from the top of the container she could see he was nowhere to be found. It was also from there she could see the rest of the battlefield and that alone made her stop and stare.

"What the?"

"What are you looking at?" Weiss came up next to her a moment later, having recovered from the hit. The heiress also paused to stare.

The two of them had been under the cover of the containers and so engrossed with their own fight they hadn't paid much heed to the explosions outside it. But now it was such an obvious mess it couldn't be missed. One of the warehouses was smoldering, the wreck of a bullhead crashed on top of it. Not much further away was the wreckage of one grounded cockpit up and missing its tail. Nevermind that there were pieces of bullhead just strewn about the field at random, cluttering the ground like pieces of models tossed to the side.

"What in the world... wait, where's Torchwick?"

Weiss's question brought them both to reality, but it was too late. They had stopped the White Fang, stopped the heist, but Torchwick was gone.

"Damnit!" Yang said, slumping down on the container. Her eyes only looked up when she heard something on her radio.

 _"Guys, the police are here, they want a statement on what happened."_

Her sister's voice made her turn her head until she remembered she was still wearing a radio. They hadn't really used it during the fighting.

Weiss spoke up again.

"Tell them to make a perimeter, Torchwick should still be in the area."

 _"Did he get away? I thought you guys had him."_

"That slippery bastard cut his losses. What the hell happened to make this place look like a scrap bin?"

There was silence on the other line for a few seconds before Ruby answered again.

 _"I'm not sure I can really explain it."_

"What do you mean you can't explain it? Clearly something happened, were you watching?"

 _"Well, yeah. The bullheads got a bit, sidetracked, so I took the opportunity to take down the remaining White Fang and help Blake get to cover. But then, well, I didn't see all of it, but... maybe it'd be easier once she wakes up."_

"Who wakes up? Did something happen to Blake?"

 _"No, no, she's fine. Right, Blake?"_

 _"I'm fine."_

The voice on the other end made Yang heave a sigh of relief.

"Then who is it?"

 _"It's, well, it's Ume, she somehow... Look, I don't know how to explain, can you guys just head over here?"_

Yang looked at Weiss, the same question in her eyes reflected back. The two girls looked back at the field, then towards the lights on the other side of the district where the cars were before heading there without much of a word. Once it was all done, they'd spent all day searching, then just had a battle. They'd won, even if Torchwick had gotten away. Though there were questions, they'd go over that with the police. But the day was successful, they had found Blake, she was with Ruby and likely not going anywhere else anytime soon. Yang would ensure that.

* * *

 **Extra chapter, cause I as mostly done with it anyway. So, more stuff for resolving the Stray, and the first considered book of RWBY, mind you, there is more inbetween stuff of course.**

 **So, posted a under my user name. You can look at that. Also, posting art on my tumblr, so you can look that up as well. Doing head shots of my main OCs, for people's reference, I've described the appearances before but pictures help a lot. First one up is Kiriko who is already posted. Anyway, check out my tumblr, authorsoundlesssleep, and leave reviews.**


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The five students standing in the office before her made Glynda want to reach for something, anything, to calm her nerves. Yelling might help, maybe a stern glance, maybe a novel on her scroll later. Something, anything, to help with the headache of this mess.

Unruffled and unphased the Headmaster of Beacon sat behind his desk, sipping his coffee, not breaking the silence as the five teens stewed. It was a normal tactic, see who talks first, to offer proper explanation. They could have separated them for individual talking too, but given the circumstances they didn't think that Team RWBY would want to see their teammate go alone.

Glynda glanced down at her scroll and the message on the screen. It was a short message from their guest. One she'd seen and reacted to as fast as she could, meaningless as it had been because by the time the bullhead had arrived it was already over. Then there was the students in front of them. The students slowly cracking under the silence.

It was Miss Rose who cracked first.

"Professor, what happened at the docks…"

"It was my fault." Belladonna interrupted her.

"Don't be silly, it was the White Fang's fault, you were only stopping a crime in progress." Miss Schnee countered.

"It wouldn't have come to a fight if I hadn't…"

"But they would have gotten away with the dust and they can't be doing anything good with it." Miss Schnee cut her off.

"Yeah, isn't it our jobs to stop bad guys if we see them?" Miss Rose said.

"More than qualified for it, got almost everyone too. The police rounded them up nice and neat." Miss Xiao Long added.

"But Torchwick got away." Blake countered.

"Yeah" Yang grit her teeth and put her fist in her hand. "When I catch that slippery basta…"

"It isn't unexpected that Roman Torchwick made his escape. He is a well known criminal and considered a master of his trade." Ozpin broke the argument with his interjection, team RWBY almost forgetting he was there with their own conversation. "As for the issue of the White Fang, the police are currently processing and interrogating them. Under the circumstances the five of you performed admirably in action."

The sudden compliment silenced the students as Glynda sighed. Great, Ozpin was encouraging this, that would add a whole list of things in the future.

"However, there were a few complications in the execution. One such complication was caused by the actions of Mr. Arc." The fifth and quietest student so far shuffled awkwardly under the headmaster's gaze.

Jaune Arc was an anomaly among his classmates in his lacking of a considerable amount of combat skill. He was thankfully well aware of this failing and was at least working hard and steadily improving over the semester. He had yet to win a fight with a classmate, but he had been known to get up early and stay up late doing physical and practical training to increase his skills slowly over time. Other than that, he wasn't anything other than a normal student. Not a trouble maker or a risk taker, which made his actions more surprising.

"Mr. Arc, earlier today your locker was launched from the school grounds. Said locker was found in pieces, at the scene of today's incident. Considering the fact that the class auditor disappeared from school grounds at that time and her scroll showed her moving at a fast rate towards that area, do you have anything to share?"

Mr. Arc hesitated under the direct attention and spoke.

"Well um, you see, Ume she…" He spoke more quickly this time. "She just grabbed me and bolted to the room, and put in the coordinates herself. She said that they were in trouble and that someone could die if I didn't. I didn't really know what to do, but she seemed so…"

"Yes, and you believed her." Ozpin looked at him to continue.

"She's strong, she's really strong and really fast. Casually so, but not just that." He rubbed his shoulder. "She seems, I don't know, experienced with this sort of thing. Way beyond me, way beyond any of the students. So when she said that, yeah, I, I did."

"How did you come to this conclusion?" Ozpin prompted again.

"Well, I mean, just look at her, the way she acts. Nothing ever surprises her, nothing even phases her in the least."

"That's not true, Penny really surprised her." Miss Rose added.

Ozpin and Mr. Arc turned to Miss Rose who took that moment to move in on herself.

"Penny?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, she's a girl we met the other day, and talked about engines with, and this really isn't related at all, is it."

Ruby shrunk into herself at the sudden attention this line of conversation brought her.

"That is probably correct, Miss Rose. Mr. Arc, are you saying you find Miss Ume unusual?" Ozpin continued, though he probably was noting this for later, he always did.

"Unusual, unnerving, a bit intimidating." He looked down. "I'm not sure what she would have done, but she didn't seem like she would have just stopped if I hadn't helped her, helped her…"

"Launch herself in a rocket locker." Ozpin said.

"To be fair, she did help when she got there." It was Ruby who spoke up again this time.

"Yes, that situation. Would you care to elaborate on that, Miss Rose?"

"Um, well." Ruby once again shrunk at the attention. "She was helping us before, when we were looking around the city, I mean. So, she knew something was wrong when it happened. She gave us the comms so we could keep track of each other. She must have been really worried when I said there were bullheads. So I guess she came to help with them? I saw her get hit with one before she disappeared."

"She got hit with a bullhead?"

"Well, I think she landed on it feet first. I couldn't tell, it went down not long after. Then the other bullheads started turning their attention away. I would have gone to help but I couldn't pierce the hulls, so I ran when they were distracted to get to Blake, because she was hurt. I didn't see her again until the third bullhead went down. I think she cut the tail off it."

Glynda put a hand on her face. If this was true, then this was a larger headache. Miss Ume, the supposed class auditor, was very much an unknown quantity with unknown capabilities. They knew she was fast from the initiation. They knew she had training in combat from her excursion with Port and the incidents with Team CRDL, they also knew she could assume the forms of others and store a near limitless amount of things on her person at any given time. Adding in cutting through large vehicles and grounding them, that made her a more dangerous headache.

"I see." Ozpin summed it up with very little words. "Well, if that is all you know, we may simply have to wait until she awakens to get a full report."

That was another anomaly. The unusual periods she had of passing out. After the initiation it seemed like a one time thing, now it seemed more like a recurring condition. Which was terrifying in and of itself. There was one thing with her being a risk, there was another with her being at risk. While an unknown quantity with unknown abilities, she was still a child and still in their care.

There wasn't much use in being skilled if you continually blacked out in the field.

"Is she going to be alright?" That was Miss Schnee.

"It looks like simple exhaustion as well as some minor scrapes and bruises. You are free to visit her in the infirmary in the meantime."

"She'll probably be hungry enough to eat an Ursa when she wakes up." Miss Xiao Long added in.

The others looked at her.

"What? You guys see how much she puts away, if this wasn't a hunter school she'd have probably cleaned out the cafeteria by now."

"Regardless, if that is all the five of you are dismissed. You will need to fill out reports to hand to Miss Goodwitch, but otherwise you aren't in any trouble." Ozpin paused to pick up his cup and sip. "Though I suggest you be more careful in the future. The actions you took today, while serving the good, also put a target on you for this organization. Do not be fearful, as you are safe here at Beacon, but be wary. Stay together when you can manage when you leave grounds, for your own safety."

The five of them nodded and headed to the elevator, though there was a pause by Miss Belladonna. She waved the others ahead but looked at Ozpin.

"Is there something you want to add?"

She seemed to think about it before shaking her head and heading to the elevator. As it closed behind her Glynda walked over to Ozpin and stared at him.

"We can't let this go on."

"What exactly?"

"You know what. Whoever she is, whatever her intentions are, we need a better grasp of the situation. We need something, anything, to gauge the scale of her abilities."

"And how do you suppose we go about that? Threaten to throw her out if she doesn't show us?" Ozpin set his mug down.

"No, of course not." Unknown a quantity as she was, being one where they could see her was better. "But if this continues on we need to know the extent of her strengths and her failings. For everyone's sakes, but especially hers."

"She, whether it is justified or not, does not seem to trust us with the full extent of her abilities. I don't know if it is fear or simple pragmatism but I doubt she will show us everything even if we asked for a demonstration."

That was a good point, but it didn't invalidate her concern. The longer she stayed the more people would notice. Team RWBY and JNPR already did, but that wouldn't stay the case forever even if they were sworn to secrecy. This wouldn't stay buried unless they could convince the girl herself to bury it.

"We need to do something."

"We need to show some patience. But if we need a response, I have someone I can ask."

He leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee and Glynda cursed the crypticness of the message. But then, if she wanted a more straightforward job she'd have stayed a huntress. You rarely have to question your methods when dealing with the grimm.

* * *

The smell woke me, as did the rumble in my stomach when it pushed me to my senses. It was a good smell mixed with a bad smell, something savory mixed with, cleaner. When I blinked my weariness away I turned my head to see a grilled cheese sandwich sitting on a plate next to a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Over the bowl of chicken noodle soup was Danny, who had his head dunked into it as he lapped up the broth.

"(I can't take you anywhere, can I?)"

He didn't even raise his head. I tried to move my right arm to pick him up when a shot of pain rewarded me for the action. Gah!

I pushed a surge of chakra through it to numb the pain. As I jolted up and moved it to look at it I found two things, a full arm brace and an IV. Fuck, had I broken my arm again?

I tried to move chakra through my wraps to do a diagnostic but found that they were gone. I'd been stripped again. I leaned back and pushed my head back, squinting my eyes. I could do diagnosis on myself without using the cloth as a medium, but it was less precise without a point of contact. Healing blind was a bad idea unless you were an expert and I was far from that. Especially since if I wanted to heal it properly I'd have to do it slowly. I could do jump start healing but it would leave scar tissue on the bone, which would degrade it over time and the only way to fix that was to rebreak it and heal it properly.

I didn't want to have go through that a second time.

My stomach growled again and I groaned as I leaned back. Fucking hell, why did they even bother putting me in here? I was better at doing it than they were, as inexperienced as I as it was the one thing at home that beat this place down pat.

I looked down at the brace and started scanning the room. Thankfully they at least learned their lesson in that my clothes were not that far away, though there was movement. Leaning down I grasped the IV with my teeth and started to tear at it when a door opened.

I turned the cord in my teeth as I saw Blake looking at me strangely.

"What are you doing?"

I relaxed my face and let the cord fall out.

"Can you hand me my clothes?"

"The nurse said you needed to rest. Why were you pulling out your IV? It has pain medicine in it for your injuries."

I rolled my eyes. It was a good thing I could numb myself with chakra, because I doubted they'd risk anything actually strong enough to break my stride, let alone have anything that could actually numb the pain in my arms. The amount of sedation I'd had in this relatively short lifetime, both self administered and not, made normal medicine as effective as pumping water into my veins for all the good it did. The plants necessary for anything useful didn't grow in this country or anywhere that was locally harvested. That didn't mean that they didn't exist, just that no one thought to use them at a commercial scale I could access them.

Yeah, because that justification was better than the alternative.

"I could take care of it if I had my clothes. Besides, how am I supposed to eat like this?"

I moved my left arm up to show the point as the still wrapped sword waved up.

"Oh."

It was all Blake said, but I could feel the embarrassment come off her in a slight wave that turned to another set of roiling emotions. Confusion, guilt, curiosity and the like. She started walking, then paused.

"What do you need your clothes for?"

"I don't, not really, I just need my wraps."

"Do you have something in them that'll help?" The curiousness continued.

"Not exactly, can you just get this thing off of me? It's not helping any and I feel more comfortable in my wraps anyway."

She still hesitated but nodded and brought the wraps over. She looked at the arm and brace.

"You really shouldn't take it off, they said it's cracked."

"A crack? Is that it? Thank god." No wonder I didn't notice when I was fighting. "Anyway, just take it off and wrap it up. You can put it back when you're done if it concerns you that much."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Heal myself."

I said it frankly and she went from surprise to realization pretty quickly. Though it didn't show on her face, her ribbon did flicker just a bit.

"Is that what you did at the docks? You healed me?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"It was just a boost, your aura was doing it anyway."

"You're a healer then."

"I'm a lot of things. Mostly, I'm just hungry, so if you could..."

She looked at my arm for a few seconds before she removed the brace and wrapped the wrap around my arm.

Doing the diagnostic jutsu I could see the problem more clearly in my mind. The crack was near my wrist, I started the visualization process and the slow healing to make sure I did. Medical jutsu was like all jutsu, something that required heavy focus and visualization. You had to know where things went, how they were supposed to look, what to do and command to do when something went wrong to fill in the gaps. It took years to build up that kind of knowledge to the point where you would be considered field ready.

I was more sometimes assistance ready. I was probably lower than the average nurse in terms of actual medical knowledge. I couldn't fix delicate areas of soft tissue, places like complicated areas of nerve damage, organ damage or the like. Mostly I could stop the bleeding and mend bones, because it was easier to visualize and had less moving parts. I was better at telling what was wrong, and prescribing more mundane treatments, I wouldn't be cleared or actually considered anything near a real shinobi medic until I buckled down and really focused on learning the material.

Which I suppose I could do here, I had the time after all. Though I couldn't do practical application on anyone but myself.

When I opened my eyes I was done and Blake was still there, looking at me. Though she had sat down. Moving my arm up I clenched my fingers and rotated my wrist. It didn't hurt, which was a good thing as I grabbed the bowl causing Danny to jump down to the bed as I moved the tray to my lap to eat. I started into the sandwich while Blake watched before I dipped it in the remaining broth. In a previous life I'd be a little more wary sharing with the cat who had been lapping it up but that, along with a lot of other inhibitions, didn't bother me enough to stop.

"You're very strange."

The words came from Blake as I bit more into my sandwich. The confusion and curiosity was there again.

I swallowed before replying.

"Guilty, but then all interesting people are. You're plenty interesting yourself."

The wave of regret, guilt and resignation almost made me lose my appetite. Okay, probably shouldn't have brought that up.

"I'm, sorry about what happened."

"About what?" I said as I took another slower bite.

"The docks, about the fight, you coming there. You really shouldn't have gone there and gotten hurt like you did and do…" There was confusion and some fear.

I actually had to pause and think about that when she looked at me and back to the memory of the last bullhead. She had spoken out, oh.

"It's okay, I was just a little startled. I wouldn't have actually hit you."

I mean I knew she wasn't going to hurt me, I was just so focused on the bullhead I was startled when I felt her there.

"That's not..." She clenched her jaw and her hands made fists in her lap. "Why did you, how did you, there's just…"

"How did I take down the bullheads? That's easy, I cut them. I use a sword, is it so unusual that I would be adept at cutting things?"

"There's cutting things, then there's…" She trailed off again, lost in her thoughts. "There were no casualties."

She let out a breath.

"Injuries, but not casualties. I saw you land with the white fang, after you took out the bullhead. You saved them."

"I severely doubt they see it that way. Besides, dead man tells no tale. No point in bringing in corpses to the police."

Killing in a society as organized and cautious as this was something that wouldn't go unnoticed or be dismissed. At home shinobi killed in their line of work as a default so there were no courts, no press or media. It was something that was known but not acknowledged, life was cheap. If you went against a shinobi it was because you did something wrong and deserved it anyway. That was the mindset, it wasn't a great mindset, didn't account for grey areas or the fact that some shinobi were absolute sociopaths but if it was in the line of duty there wasn't usually much blowback from it.

It might have weighed less heavily on me if there was at least some sort of punishment for it.

"I guess, but why did you go there? Why risk yourself, then save them afterwards?"

"Because I promised Ruby I would help."

There was a pause as the confusion set in, but the guilt was still there.

"Is it really that simple?"

"Does it have to be complicated? I like Ruby, she's a nice girl. She was so torn up about what this was doing to the team that she confided in me. I offered to help, so I set them up with the ear pieces and helped coordinate the effort." It seemed like the obvious thing to do at the time.

The guilt came in greater waves.

"But then the docks, you launched yourself in a locker, for, for..." She looked down. "I don't even know you that well."

"So?"

The response caught her off guard and it showed on her face.

"What?"

"So what if you don't know me that well. I know you well enough, don't I?" I turned to face her.

There was apprehension.

"What in the world are you talking about, we've barely spoken."

"You're the girl who helped me when I passed out in the library, you could have left me behind but you stopped to help me. Also I'd help regardless cause I know exactly who you are, you're the girl behind the book." I smiled this time.

"The girl who smiles a little to herself when she thinks no one's watching, the girl who despite not having to, goes to every meal with her team, tags along with activities even if you don't take part or only offer your input as slight snark on the rare occasion. You trail behind people and hide behind your book but you feel like you're there all the same because it's comfortable enough that they just let you be. That you don't have to put up a front to make them accept you and in your own way you've accepted them, loud, bossy, energetic and immature you love your team even if you don't talk about it much."

There was surprise there of course and confusion, and embarrassment. She avoided my gaze like I was looking at her too closely, but I guess I was cheating. Not that I needed to.

In my last life I had been the same way. Not behind a book always, sometimes behind a phone. Especially when I was a teenager.

The silence went on as I continued my meal and she stewed over what I said. There was a bit of a negative loop of emotion before she got the nerve to speak again.

"But to go so far, to get hurt. Especially after you figured out that…"

I let out a sigh as I finished my sandwich and moved the brace to my teeth. It clipped over my palm and I undid the button to slide it down so I could do the hand sign.

"(Wind Release: Air Bubble)"

She reacted immediately to the bubble of air. Reaching for a weapon that wasn't there then turning to me.

"What did you…"

"It's an air bubble. You can use it to breath underwater for a short time, but it also muffles sound so if there is anyone listening they wouldn't understand what we are saying."

I let out a sigh as her shoulders dropped.

"Why did you..."

"Because you're here, and if you're really guilty about this all, if you really are sorry then maybe you should tell me a bit more about how you got into this mess. This mess with the White Fang."

The words at the end made her wince.

"I, I'm not…"

"If you don't trust me enough to tell me that's fine. You can just leave. But I will say right now I don't think there's much you can tell me that'll make me turn against you." I said, laying back.

"But there was so much, so many things that happened, so many people got hurt, not directly, but I condoned it."

"Be hypocritical for _me_ to judge you."

"What?" She said, confusion whirled as she looked at me, her eyes wide.

Wait, had I said that out loud? Whelp might as well roll through.

"Take what you want from that. If you don't want to tell me though, as I said, you can leave."

She looked towards the door and considered it. Anticipation and anxiety building along with her guilt. She stood and started walking towards it. Moving out of the bubble and going to the handle. She almost grabbed it, though Danny stopped her.

The cat meowed at her, or some similar sound. I couldn't tell, it worked both ways with sound going in just as muffled as it went out. He just looked at her for a moment and after a whirl of emotions she settled herself and picked him up.

With him in her hands she entered the bubble of air and sat down. Her eyes darted around the room as she let out a deep breath and spoke.

"I was born into the White Fang, it was as normal a part of my life as anything else. We'd go to protests, hold the signs, advocating equality, but it seemed no one would listen. No one would acknowledge us, nothing changed. Until we turned to violence."

She let out a breath.

"I didn't join at first, but when nothing else worked when we finally got recognition, respect, something, I joined the movement." She put a hand on her face.

"Raiding ships, stealing dust, freeing people from camps, it seemed to be working but when it was all said and done, when everything came down to it it became clear it wasn't what we thought it was. We were feared and because of that fear things were getting worse than ever. I heard more stories of faunus being hurt and attacked because of the White Fang. Some of them did nothing and because of the attacks turned to us for their protection. We did it, but every time we fought back it got worse. I kept trying to justify it to myself, to try and say that we just needed to push a little longer. I blinded myself to what was happening, how people who never did a violent thing in their life were shooting weapons in the street, how we were causing panics to draw grimm. Then there was…"

She looked down again.

"I had a friend in the Fang, they changed the most. I used to respect them, they were so strong but as things got more violent, as we did more things... He stopped looking at anybody in our way as anything but obstacles, and then some people not in the way." She closed her eyes.

"I can see how that happened, yeah." I scratched my nose. "Some people try to say the ends justify the means, that in the end doing something bad to accomplish something good somehow absolves the bad things."

She looked up, bow flickering in recognition, she'd probably heard that a lot.

I continued as I waved my hand.

"Which is kind of bullshit in my opinion, how you do something is almost if not more important than the results. But desperation can stop people from thinking that way, people without hope, people like the faunus."

"We had hope, it's just…"

"You put faith in the wrong methods. Yeah, that happens a lot. I've been guilty of being heavy handed when a light touch would have sufficed."

Given, they had a larger handicap. I had tried to look up past White Fang protests in fact, and much like the books I couldn't find much of anything on the Codex. They had probably been censored or pushed under the rug of social media. A way to prevent mass discontent maybe, or more likely to prevent the message they were sending from making an impact beyond the local level so certain laws could stay in place without contest.

"Regardless, I guess it just boils down to the fact that you can't fight darkness with darkness, only light can do that. You can't fight hatred with hatred, only love can do that."

"There's not much love for faunus."

"Yeah, you guys kind of shot yourself in the foot there. Honestly, if you had held out and stayed peaceful the opinion may have died in time. A lot of the anti faunus policy seems to be a relic of the wars. Such pain usually doesn't go away until those who experienced it first hand are gone from this world. Though second and third generation bigotry can be strong, it's a more distance issue because as much as a parent's opinion shapes a child, their first hand experience can overrule that."

I leaned back.

"Though I guess it probably doesn't help that Faunus are such a minority or that a good bit of them have been shoved into Menagerie. It's easier to love something if you actually know someone as a person as opposed to a group that seems distant."

Which may have been part of the reason the forceful deportation of faunus to Menagerie happened.

"Menagerie isn't such a bad place, it's just..."

"Not much usable land, I looked at some maps for it, yeah. I guess for the moment until the White Fang is actually stopped there isn't going to be much movement on that front."

There was agreement and anger in Blake as she rose.

"I can't believe they would, they would side with Torchwick. I went to the docks but it put everyone in danger, my team, Sun, just because I couldn't face the truth. Just because I couldn't accept what was in front of me."

"Well, who could blame you, it sounds like you gave up your entire childhood to this cause, most of your life until recently you fought for this cause. Why wouldn't you fight to find some good in something that went so bad? For a long time, it was probably all you knew."

"But I should have…"

Her emotions swelled and I cut her off.

"You know, it's amazing you were able to walk away."

The surprise snapped up as she looked at me.

"I mean it, some people would spend their entire lives doing the wrong thing rather than admit they are wrong, a lot of people would rather die. You probably lost so much when you left that place, but you were able to walk away from what you knew was wrong. That takes a lot of courage."

"It's not courage, I was just running away." She said in a low voice.

"So? Sometimes that's the right thing to do. If you can't fight a battle, you run away. Standing your ground against impossible odds is a good way to get yourself killed. From your place in the organization, could you really have done anything to change it?"

She shook her head.

"Then I don't see anything wrong with that. Given, yeah, running away from your team was a bit of a dick move. Well, more the not getting in contact so they knew you weren't like, dead, was a super dick move."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"But honestly you aren't as bad as you're probably thinking you are. In fact, you're kind of heroic."

"Heroic?"

"If I read a story, you'd be the person I'd want to be the hero. I like stories with flawed heroes, people who make mistakes, who stumble and fall but still find a way to do what's right. It seems more real than a hero who has never struggled or done the wrong thing, or one who just had their victories handed to them with no cost."

She stared at me, more confused than anything else. "You really are very strange."

"Again guilty, but then so are you. All the best people are, I shudder to see the day when I'm surrounded by normal people."

She let out an absent snort at that before rising again and setting Danny on my bed.

"You gonna be alright?"

"I'm still hungry actually, could you get me some more sandwiches?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Where in the world do you put it all?"

"I thought that was rather obvious, but if you need a breakdown of the digestive system I can…"

"Nevermind." She said as she headed to the door. I released the jutsu as she went. "I'll see what I can get from the cafeteria."

"Get me some tea if you can!" I yelled after her as the door closed.

* * *

She looked very young when she was asleep. It wasn't something he hadn't seen before but with more context the reminder of this as he walked into the infirmary made him smile just a bit.

Bartholomew brought up a chair as he looked at the small girl sleeping absently with the black and white tom on her stomach looking up as he examined her. You could almost forget that she was someone who could and did take down two ursa as well as several armed men in single combat. Or that according to recent reports she cut through an airship. That she had spent so much time gathering and hoarding new information from as many sources as possible like she was doing a dissertation for her doctorate in the study of everything. He knew some scholars who were less attentive to such details, which was why he had no qualms about what he was about to ask.

She was such an intelligent young lady, while very cynical despite, or maybe because of, her keen observation skills. Not knowing much other way to start this he reached out and gave her a light push on the shoulder.

The girl stirred, blinking away the sleepiness before yawning deeply, which disturbed the cat on her stomach.

"Doshite?" She said blearily.

"You're speaking Mistralian again, Miss Ume. Though I suppose it would be natural considering it is your native tongue it may startle some people because of how rare the accent of your dialect is for that particular tongue, especially as it's rarely used even in the Kingdom of Mistral."

She reached up and rubbed her eye with her palm.

"I know, I think only two or so of the students speak it. One of them can only do pretty basic conversation." Leaning forward, she yawned. "So, what's the skinny. You usually don't come to visit when I'm doing a medical stay."

Right to the point, she always did that.

"You are correct. I can inform you they will be letting you out soon as they did another X-ray and found the bone mended, as well as your bruises subsiding, but a nurse could have told you that. Instead I would like to inquire as to you what your plans for the school break are."

"The break?" She blinked a bit.

"Yes, there is a brief holiday after the midterm exams as a reprieve for the students. It's only a week's time, giving ample space for teachers to do grading as well as prepare lesson plans for the next quarter."

He had already made his lesson plans and grading was something he could take care of in an afternoon, so he wouldn't be as tied up as some of the other teachers.

"I hadn't considered that." She let out another yawn. "I suppose I could just hang around, but be pretty bored. Will the school be closed?"

"Yes and no, there will be no classes but the facilities will be open for use by the students to account for those who cannot afford to travel home for the duration or those who have no other place to go. Of course, your room will continue to be available to you during that time should you choose to stay on campus."

"That's like saying I'd have an option off campus, considering how expensive staying in Vale is."

"Yes, I understand there is a good fee for staying in the city for extended periods, but that is less what I am talking about. You see, I had some recent changes to schedule that would free up some time for me to go on an expedition I had wanted to do for quite some time. It is out of country and funding for it is a little low but I have some companions willing to help foot the bill for prep as long as things could be transported safely."

Oobleck let the words hang in the air for a few moments as he watched the girl. Predictably, it didn't take very long for her to catch on.

"You want me to be a pack mule."

"That is a rather blunt way of saying it, however your ability to carry and transport such large amounts of cargo safely and quickly would be invaluable to such an expedition. Especially since the area is well known to attract some hostile forces that would require us to move such things very quickly."

"Grimm?"

"More than just Grimm, the expedition will be taking place in Vacao, which while rich in history as a well established cohesive kingdom has in recent years fallen into a state of more loosely associated organizations rather than one central government. It has made local laws less stringent and allowed for the rise of some less than savory people."

"Desert bandits." The girl said flatly. "You're worried they'd raid your camps? Also, why not just take a bullhead?"

"It is not unheard of, some of the equipment used is very expensive scanning and excavation gear that could be repurposed or otherwise sold for a high price. Such raids have sometimes happened, leaving the people unarmed and scared enough to draw a sizable amount of grimm to the location. While I have in the past prevented it I am but one person and having the equipment locked up safely would help to safeguard it from theft that may ensue by them inducing chaos. As for a bullhead, it would make us a surefire target if the normal equipment did not, as airships would be ideal things for such raiders to have to expand their territory."

"So you want me to store stuff, and guard the camp." She said. "That's an awful lot of trust in me. What if I say no?"

"You are of course perfectly able to reject the invitation if you so wish. It can be quite a dangerous undertaking, but the risk involved is greatly outweighed by the rewards. Information about past civilizations is a priceless commodity, as it is only by knowing our past…"

"That we can be sure not to repeat it. Yeah, I can see that." She put a hand under her chin but only for a moment as the cat rubbed into her forearm, which she took as a signal to scratch him behind the ears. "I suppose I can tag along. Don't have much else going on."

Oobleck smiled.

"Excellent, I'll make the arrangements immediately. We should leave early Sunday morning on the break. I can't express in words how grateful I am that you are willing to lend your time and skills to this endeavor. I believe it would not very well be possible to convince them of its validity without your help to smooth over the transition and transport of the supplies."

"Yeah, sure." She said with a yawn. "Sounds interesting."

Laying back down she dozed back off soon and Oobleck made his leave.

He looked back at the girl and let out a breath. He didn't like that he was hiding what this was about. But he couldn't say no to Ozpin without a good reason, and he would be there the entire time.

Hopefully things wouldn't get out of hand.

* * *

 **Hey guys, didn't mean to take a break, but it's been hard. Been trying to get a job still, I'm working on multiple things at once, including three different POVs, the next chapter of Sugar Plums and the portraits (I'm making portraits of each of my OCs, they're on my tumblr, I've gotten two done so far). Anyway, reviews are nice.**


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

He unlocked the door when he saw me, it was still a half hour before he'd normally open but Tukson was nice like that. He was a big man, with dark short trimmed hair and sideburns that went up his cheek just a tad. His hazel eyes were a narrower set than what was normal around Vale, which probably meant he or his family weren't originally from here. Still, as intimidating as he could try to be set like that, he smiled and opened the door.

"Early day again, Ume?"

"I always come early. Besides, I'm going on a trip and need to stock up." I held up the small tray as an offering to him."Coffee?"

"Cream and lowsweet?"

He said, picking up the foam cup.

"On the side, didn't want to bother the barista too much. Poor girl looked like she was going to topple over with the six am crowd."

I walked past him as well as his numerous smaller book displays and set the tray on the counter, pulling out the caramel frappe I'd ordered.

"You're too considerate for your own good, girl. You don't have to bring coffee every time you come in early." He said.

"You don't have to drink it." I replied before taking a long sip from my straw, enjoying the sweet cold coffee blend. "Anyway, best repayment for you letting me sit in here and read even when there's no guarantee I'll be buying."

He waved me off as he started to put together his blend of coffee, cream and artificial sweetener.

"You buy more than most of my browsers. I swear I catch more people taking the books off the shelf than turning their nose up once they find a better deal on Codex."

"There's no guarantee ordering off Codex, all it takes is some errant Grimm delaying the order or causing it to be cancelled altogether, never mind the time it wastes." I replied.

"Exactly." He said, before taking a deep draw from his own coffee cup. "That's good. Anyway, what's this about a trip?"

"Vacao, going for little under a week. I've never been, but I don't think there are many bookstores in the desert." I said.

"Well, not with my selection, there's not." He said with a smile.

I smiled and nodded back. It was the truth after all. While there was a chain store in the mall, the selection was very lacking in a certain type of variety. Not in genre or subjects, but in authors and voices. Tukson's was the only store I could find that carried books with faunus authors and anything substantial on the White Fang movement as well as perspectives on the Great Wars that weren't biased towards the four kingdoms. Most of the books I found like that were soft cover and according to Tukson self published, which explained why I couldn't find many of them for sale on Codex. I probably wouldn't have even known about them if one of Oobleck's less than standard textbooks didn't reference them directly in the credits section.

"You got the ones I ordered in?" I said, leaning a hand on the counter.

"I do. Took some digging, but I did."

He set two books on the table. One of them was titled "The Darklands", the other was "Menagerie: A Series of Short Stories". I picked them up and started to thumb through. They were both nonfiction, the first was a book on what was considered the inhospitable area of Remnant, an area so infested with Grimm it was said even being remotely close was liable to a death sentence. The book was supposed to be a research report about attempts to settle in that area, accounts from hunters who braved the lands as well as some scientific information done by drone observation. The other was simply first person stories taken and written down by the faunus in Menagerie. Both had been impossible to find anything but a brief reference of, so I appreciated Tukson's effort.

"Cool, I'll do a quick thumb through it here if you don't mind." I said, taking both books under my arm.

"You have strange tastes for such a small girl. Lots of people would look at some of the things you thumb through as overly faunus biased and unfair to the kingdoms." He said, leaning forward.

"I'm sure it didn't seem biased to the author. You can't label someone as biased unless you hear every side of the story, and even then you can't really know what experiences made them that way. Everyone views the world differently and it's not fair to judge every single person by your principles alone." I said.

"Yep, strange, but I like it. It's a big world and lots of people like to narrow in on beliefs that only fit their preconceptions of the world ignoring everything else." He said.

"If you never challenge your own beliefs then it's easier to believe in them, I suppose. Which is probably why I do so all the time, I do hate missing something just because I was too narrow minded to believe it might be possible."

I said as I walked past him and into a comfy armchair that was set in a space between bookshelves. It was a fairly open layout store, at least in the front where the customers were allowed to roam. It was one big room with lined walls of shelves and several smaller displays. It was small for a bookstore, especially compared to the big chain bookstore at the mall, but compared to most of the other small businesses it was actually very spacious. Though the fact that it was at a less than prime location probably helped. The fact that he could afford this much space in Vale was a testament either to his dedication, the amount of money he put into this or both.

He certainly spent a lot of time making sure everything was clean and neat. There wasn't even a speck of dust on any shelf. Even books that were seldom moved by customers looked to be bright and new set against the nice darkwood of the shelves that lined the walls. It was, I guess classy was a word, or maybe homey? A cross between the two maybe. Not having the bustle and bright colors of the big chain in the bookstore, it felt more like a place of rest than a place of selling. It's why I often read here as opposed to at Beacon when I picked up books, well, one of the reasons. I didn't buy anything I couldn't get through the first chapter of. Though I usually stuck to nonfiction I couldn't make myself buy blind even with recommendations.

So sitting in the chair I cracked open the short story book and started through it.

* * *

It was a slow day, but most weekday mornings were. Most of his clientele was of an older generation, shopkeepers, school teachers, office workers, basically people who went to work early and often times came home late in the evening. It's why he kept his store open later even though most stores would already be closed. To keep hours even, he usually opened his store around 10:00am, unless a tiny red haired girl came knocking on his window.

Tukson thought it unusual the first couple of times, but it didn't take long for him to adjust. While opening the store for one person wasn't a usual practice she made good on it usually buying one or two books every time she showed up. Which considering she usually showed up at least once a week was more than most individual customers did. Business was steadier years ago, but as the Codex grew and people became more interested in reading on their scrolls than paper and ink the book industry took a downward decline that was accelerating in the last couple of years. Even chain stores were struggling to stay afloat in these times, a lot of them having to branch out into adding coffee places to their locations or expanding merchandise to make up for the loss. The former Tukson was considering, though had yet to get enough capital to make the dive into the reinvention, the latter he wasn't willing to push for the risk.

Media content like movies and music was going down in marketability faster than books were. Again it was the Codex, it made streaming easier for both medias than going to a store. There wasn't even a change in experience most of the time. The only reasons books were declining at a slower rate was because it was a different experience to read on paper, especially since it didn't require electricity to do so, making them still billable and sellable to more isolated areas like the frontier towns. Though he couldn't do shipping to them as easily as bigger companies, making most of his business local.

Still, it was his dream. People didn't immediately think him one to like books because he was a big guy, but he did. It was one of the earliest forms of communication, pen and paper, a way to speak with people you've never met, to experience and see things you'd never see, to be someplace, anyplace really, without ever actually having to leave. When he was younger he dreamed of being an explorer or an adventurer, but those avenues were closed off to him because of both resources as well as the difficulty of getting to such a place in academia. Especially for a faunus. Even if he could pass, even if he wasn't obvious unless he was angry if being human was the defining trait of how he would be successful in such fields, then he'd rather not even try.

He wasn't unhappy here, it was hard long work, mostly he worked by himself. He used to have other staff but again the downturn made them less necessary. Still he was here, he could keep afloat and be the shop where people came for rarer books and maybe a bit of a personal touch.

The thought was what kept him going as he went about moving his shipment of, while not best sellers, more frequent sellers of books. A couple of hardbacks, several comic books too. He carried a couple of the rarer runs for collectors with the complementary merchandise because even though they were relatively cheap in comparison, some people liked buying entire sets of a series to read in one go. He always made sure he wasn't out of any particular issues.

As he was moving them out of boxes, he grabbed a stack of hardcovers from a new release of some popular novels. He should have those out on display by the weekend. Picking them up, he heard a bell ring from the front. A customer.

"Be right there!"

Holding the stacks he moved through the doors, keeping his balance steady as he spoke.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun."

Setting down the stack he spoke again.

"How may uh…" Looking at the green haired huntress he paused for a moment.

"How may I help you?"

"Just browsin'."

The silver haired male said, slamming the book he was holding closed with one hand. Tukson had to hold back his wince, such rough treatment would damage the spine.

Tukson's heart was pounding as the green haired huntress started asking about his selection. He didn't get hunters as clientele, especially so young. Then there was the way the boy was handling the book. Every slam showed disregard. Something was wrong and he was quickly assessing his options. If he ran, would he get past the other hunter? No, he knew the answer to that. As the girl kept talking the boy inquired about comics. He directed him as the girl asked about the Third Crusade.

The Third Crusade was an obscure novel that was written at the end of the last war, it was about a theoretical war where the faunus had beaten out the kingdoms and taken control. As far as alternate history novels, it was unpopular to the point of being outlawed in several kingdoms, to the point that most people didn't know about it.

Which was why it was a codeword that meant they were here either for, or associated with the White Fang. Considering they were both humans, hunters, armed and the fact that he had made some plans that were less than conducive to recent things he had heard about it confirmed his suspicions about what this was about.

But what did he do about it?

"Um, I don't believe we carry that one."

The two of them looked at him and started questioning his business catch phrase, as well as his motives. His eyes were on the huntress, but looking forward he saw the silver haired boy start to darken the windows, this was bad. Though not as bad as when the boy turned his head.

"I hear…"

"Hey, Em?"

The girl didn't turn away but glanced back.

"What?" She sounded slightly frustrated to be interrupted.

"There's a bookworm in the corner."

The silver haired boy was pointing off and the girl actually turned. Tukson considered attacking but his blood froze when he remembered something he had all but forgotten in his work and the distraction of their arrival.

Ume was still here.

Nestled into the chair in the corner she sat absorbed in her reading. The girl was sharp, but she could focus for hours on books without moving. She was so quiet all the time, it wasn't the first time he'd forgotten she was in the store.

He tried to rush around the counter but the girl cut him off.

"Stay there."

She said it in a firm voice before making a movement with her head. The silver haired boy stood in Tukson's way as she looked over at the girl. Ume still hadn't moved, absorbed in her reading, though that changed when her head shot up with a start.

"Tukson?" Her voice had a hint of panic. "Tukson!"

The girl stood, her book forgotten on the floor as she scanned the room. Her eyes startled as she searched for him. Even though her eyes went over the counter she didn't seem to see him. Instead she ran to the door, pulling it easily open. He expected her to run outside, for it seemed something had frightened her. He wanted to run too, but as he moved a hand pushed him back.

"You aren't going anywhere." The silver haired boy said. "You don't thin…"

The voice was cut off as he felt a gust of air go by his face. He wasn't the only one, as the two hunters looked to the door as the books and papers started to flap in the wind funneling out of the building. Ume was still there, the epicenter of the wind.

"What the, what did you make her…"

The silver haired boy said, but was startled when a flash of pink jumped by him and landed on the counter. In front of Tukson, the little girl wasn't very tall, but she looked fairly intimidating as the pink dress she wore flapped outward over her arms. She spoke, in words he didn't understand and it was only then that he realized the cloth formed two wings that drew wind in with them.

It happened so fast that the two other hunters didn't react well. The silver haired boy moved to kick the girl, but a moment later instead of a current, a gigantic gust swept through the entire store. The bookshelves tipped over, papers flew everywhere in a flurry with the books flying and rebounding off the windows. The two hunters stood their ground only for a second but went flying as well. The boy hit the window, breaking through the glass while the girl hit the door frame before being sent tumbling out the door.

When that happened, and only then, did the wind stop. Tukson stared at the destruction in disbelief for a few moments. He knew he was going to have to leave the store for a while, wait until things blew over, but this... The stupor he was in was only broken by the words of the cause of the destruction and now that it caught up with him, his window to escape.

Ume, the small girl in the now sagging dress stared at the room in confusion. Her eyes roamed it before turning to Tukson.

"What the hell just happened?!"

* * *

In his life, he'd seen a lot of messed up things. He'd done a lot of messed up things too, and he liked to think he could take such things in stride. However, the current clusterfuck of a situation sent Mercury Black reeling. Or maybe it was being sent through a window that did that.

Rolling with the blow, he lay amongst the shattered glass. His aura protected his hands as he pushed himself to his feet.

"What the hell just happened?"

He said just a bit dizzily. Turning around he saw Emerald was still on the ground and had been pushed back further until hitting a storefront on the other side of the street. He only took a moment to note her location before running back into the store. Much to his dismay, both people in the store had vacated. Cursing under his breath he booked it to the back of the shop, no way was he letting this guy get away. Cinder would have his hide.

The alley behind the store showed a backdoor for loading, which was still closed, and a narrow side road. He turned down it expecting to see his fleeing victim, at least here he could cut them off. What he didn't expect to see, or hear, was a woosh of air. Looking upwards he saw a flash of pink and black shoot out from one of the windows on the second floor. He traced its ascent but lost track of it quickly as it disappeared over a fence. Looking at the building he launched himself up, jumping off the surface and easily clearing the fence. However, all he found was an empty street and more shops. No blur of pink, no strange girl, no Tukson.

"Shit."

He said, reaching down to find his scroll. It didn't take long for Emerald to catch up with him. She looked at him.

"You lost them!" She said, staring at him.

"I lost them? What did you make her see?" He said.

"It was just a fire drill, some smoke, made it seem…" Emerald trailed off. "That girl can control wind, she was trying to empty the store of smoke. When it didn't work she tried to push it all out at the front. Damnit."

She pulled out her scroll. "We have to report this."

"Report this, we fucked up." He said.

"We can't find them now, as much as it'll hurt to admit to her."

And it would hurt, no doubt about it, Cinder would have some scathing words for them. He just hoped she didn't kick their asses.

"It's better if we get help, we can try to head him off at the bullhead stations. There's no way he's getting out of the city without being on a bullhead." She dialed the scroll.

"The hell are we supposed to tell her?" Mercury said. Because he wasn't about to say he got his ass kicked by a little girl because Emerald fucked up an illusion. Well, maybe he might, if only to see the look on Emerald's face.

"Don't know, but if he gets away this will be a total failure instead of a complication."

* * *

"So, what was that?"

I said to the large man who owned the bookstore as he sat on the bench in the small room. It was a handicap stall at a bouquet that specializes in children's clothing. I hadn't had a good grasp of the situation when it happened. Still didn't really, I just knew that Tukson had told me he was in danger and that meant we needed a place to hide.

It took a bit of energy to get out two streets over, into an alleyway and to henge us into what looked like a father daughter pair. I pulled us into the small store, grabbed something off the rack while pulling it along and saying something along the lines of help me put this on before shoving us in here.

Once I cased the area and made sure I couldn't see any cameras in the dressing room I dropped the illusion and put up the muffling jutsu. The entire situation left me mildly exhausted, but I could manage that much.

"Assassins, sent to silence me." Tukson said, sitting in the corner. "More importantly what was…"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, because I think after what happened I should get answers first. Especially since not a minute ago I thought your bookstore was on fire."

I said, trying to shake away the image in my head. Nothing about it seemed wrong at the time, I could feel the heat, smell the smoke, I knew it was on fire in my very being and that being there was dangerous.

I also knew that if I could get the smoke out I could put it out before it completely destroyed the store or potentially spread.

"Is that what you thought? Why? Did they do that?" He said, confused.

"Who is they, what are they? Either I saw something that was real, or I was made to think I saw something like that. Both are really, really dangerous."

I said as I tried to gather myself. It had been awhile since I'd been under such a complete illusion. I could say I was used to them, but that wasn't entirely true. I was used to Kiriko's illusions, even then I had very little defence for them other than not looking her in the eye when we sparred. That was the only exposure I had to inner perception illusions, really. In theory you could break those, but it required either a lot of skill, practice and often times outside help to do that. I had none of those things and that had been a very strong, very detailed illusion. It was hard to get to that level of genjutsu without the help of a blood limit, with minimum difficulty being A rank. It wasn't a common thing to deal with, so most shinobi couldn't, myself included, and the fact that someone here in this world had an ability, or semblance of a similar level scared me.

"I didn't get their names. Honestly I'd never seen them before. They were two teenagers, one a girl with dark skin, green hair and red eyes. The other a boy with silver hair, eyes and pale skin. Both human from what I could tell, but I can't be sure. The White Fang sent them." Tukson said with a sigh.

"Why would they… you're a money launderer for the White Fang, aren't you?"

I said as I placed a hand on my face. Of course, small business, nice big shop, able to compete with a bigger store even though there's only one apparent employee and owner.

"Not so loud." He said, wincing.

"What, no, I put up a... nevermind, no one can really hear what we're saying. You have a scroll with you?" I said.

"No, you grabbed me before I could get it." He said.

"Small blessings, they can't track you with it. They don't know who I am, yet, so they can't track me either." I said, letting out a sigh.

"Alright, we're heading to Beacon."

"What?! I can't go to Beacon, they'll arrest me." He said.

"No, they won't. Ugh, I mean... look, I'll deal with it. Just, follow my lead." I said.

"Do I have much of a choice?" He looked at me strangely.

"You always have a choice, if you don't want to go with me I won't stop you. I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do, I don't do that." I said, placing a hand on my face. "What about me did you think I would?"

"Probably the same part that destroyed my shop in a single blow." He said. "I never figured you for a huntress. They aren't usually that young. Given, I should have known from the clothing."

"Look, do you want to go?" I said, looking towards the door. "You want to try and escape on your own? I got you out of there because I didn't know what else to do but now we have options. But I can't really help you unless we both go to Beacon."

"Will you turn me over to the hunters? They aren't real fond of the White Fang" He said, crossing his arms.

"Can you blame them?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

Looking down, he let out a breath, defeated.

"No." He shook his head. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. All we wanted was equality, all we wanted was peace. But now everything is about violence, about retribution. It's getting out of control."

"As these things do. Look, you have your options. I don't know what type of plan you have, or if it'll work at all. But know I don't want you hurt, I don't want you dead and honestly I don't think you should be imprisoned either." I said to him.

"You don't." He said. "You don't even know me, I could be like the terrorists, I could be a murderer."

That was true, but I had no moral high ground on that whatsoever.

"Maybe, but you could be innocent. Innocent until proven guilty."

"Most people don't think that way about faunus." He said.

"I really don't give a fuck." I said. Standing up, I started to wipe the crust from my eyes with my right hand. They'd gotten a bit sleepy from when I was reading. "You may be involved, but nothing I've seen suggests you deserve being killed in cold blood."

"Most people don't get what they deserve." He stood up too and let out a deep sigh. "I've seen it enough. You shouldn't get yourself involved, strange as it is, as strong as you are they'll hunt you down too."

"Eh," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I'll be honest, I'm surprised they haven't already started."

Probably pretty messed up that it was more comfortable knowing someone was out to get me in this world than having to wonder all the time. I'd tried to relax the last few months because in theory no one would really want to do anything to me here. But it was impossible, I'd been through too much to not look over my shoulder for a blade that may never come. Some people called it paranoid but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon trying to eat your face.

Or in this case a terrorist organization gunning for you.

"I'm already involved, like it or not. The people who came after you are still out there, and even if they don't ID me immediately it's only a matter of time. I'm pretty distinctive. Now make your decision. Either you come with me, or you take your chances elsewhere. I won't tell you I have a plan, not a real one, not yet. But I have a few ideas we can try. It depends on who I can get to listen to me without jumping to certain conclusions."

Tukson looked at me, more defeated than anything.

"I already took my chances of doing this on my own, and look where it got me." He said, nodding. "I suppose going with you is the more sensible thing. Even though I'd rather you not be dragged into my problems."

I waved him off with my hand.

"Please, I'm just nosy enough that you'd have to beat me off with a stick otherwise."


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

It was 68 degrees outside, with a three degree windchill coming in from the sea. Humidity was around 20 percent, the forecast predicted very little cloud cover. Though it was a weekday, it was Friday, the last weekday and thus considered in general consensus the best one. She had been allowed time to move on her own under the guidelines that she not do anything to draw overt attention to herself unless in extreme circumstances and despite the fact that she was supposed to have an armed escort her father arranged for her to make it to the city without them for a short time so that she may have a more personal experience.

By all objective standpoints, it was a nice day.

Currently she was observing normal eating and drinking behaviors whilst sitting at an outside table in the sunny weather. It seemed like an optimal location, though she couldn't help but see it strange that most of the customers only visited for long enough to get an order then simply rush away, often while eating or drinking the order. She knew from some health books that sitting was the ideal way to consume food, even though she herself didn't need it. She could consume food, there was a bag in her that could hold anything that she put in her mouth, but it would have to be emptied later. There were also several other people who, while ordering food, did not seem to be at the establishment strictly to eat there. The ages varied from late teenager to middle age, but those who sat at the tables did so with lap scrolls, books or notepads, usually with a drink. Though sometimes said drink would be all but forgotten as they typed, wrote or read at the table. She had made some inquiry as to what was the purpose of them having the drink if they were not intending to consume it properly, but the person she asked did not seem to hear her correctly. When she inquired again they got up from the table and moved away.

She might have made an effort to follow, but previous interactions indicated that as not a wise course. Sometimes people who were not friends wished to have what was called personal space. She looked up the term last week when she cross referenced certain facial expressions on the codex with feelings and found that they meant discomfort, she then did root searches against the actions she found in her memory banks that might have been linked to said discomfort. Which led her to the concept of personal space, which some humans found to be pertinent that non friends and non family did not breach.

Though of course she wasn't exactly sure that was the case with one of the two friends she acquired.

One of the friends was Ruby Rose, who despite some tone shifts in her voice always had facial expressions that were concurrent with happiness, comfort or friendliness, a smile as it was called. It was an expression Penny chose as default as it was said to put people at ease. Though she had found that smiling with all your teeth did have adverse reactions, so she kept it to a smaller expression. Much like the one Ruby wore.

The other friend was Ume, no surname given, whose gestures and mannerisms suggested a more nervous state. Though she did smile occasionally, especially when talking about mechanical parts. It was nice to see both of her new friends had an interest in engineering as it was one of the fields she had adequate memory devoted for. Her father ensured that in an emergency she could do some minor repairs on herself if need be by uploading her data schematic while talking her through the processes of her body. While they had yet to face anything that could greatly damage her in the field, she was combat ready and as such needed to be prepared to face the possibility of damage.

The project they were working on peaked her interest, since it was in many ways a subset of her own design perimeters. Of course the full robotics package that ran her systems was much more complex than the servos and programming meant to control a single limb, but it was an interesting venture. Though Ume seemed to have a preference for more crude and lower efficiency components, she had a firm grasp of the basics. Ruby was also well versed in the mechanics of a multi jointed artificial apparatus, which she explained was from her experience creating her transforming hunter weapon. It was a fruitful conversation, since Ruby was very focused on her weapon once it was brought up as a subject, the records of her facial expressions with comparative researches shows that she was excited about the prospect. Penny liked seeing her friend excited and was able to converse with her at length about it.

It was enjoyable enough a conversation that friend Ume managed to finish her purchases and the three of them made their way to an ice cream parlor where the two of them had, from scale to their perceived body mass, a large amount of ice cream. In Ruby's case it was to be expected as Penny's sensors could detect an awakened aura, Ume by contrast had none, but enjoyed a similar amount without any outward signs of nausea.

Penny hummed at the instance as she took a mimed sip out of her coffee cup. It was by this point empty, but the people here seemed more reassured if it seemed that she had one. She didn't know what the look meant at the beginning of the week, but her archives were growing by the day as she cataloged and referenced human interactions in an unsimulated situation.

It was for that reason when she saw friend Ume rush by holding the wrist of a blond haired boy in armor that she understood from a glance that she was unsettled. It wasn't one thing, but several that she learned from her week of gathering information in the city. She was scanning crowds with her eyes, her pace was quickened, she would glance backwards at her companion every few steps and even as they moved the pace stilted as she seemed to be dragging him forward. It was an interesting sight to behold, and with a quick search she found a number of possibilities appear in a list.

She started to try and dismiss the statistically unlikely ones but stopped herself. She was supposed to be gathering first hand information to better expand her own development. She had access to these databases at home of course, had access to people as well, but those who interacted with her knew what she was and responded accordingly. It was only out here where she could interact without that knowledge that she got what would be considered a natural response. The database only truly helped with that to build off of.

Also, if her friend were unsettled, she wanted to see if she could be of assistance.

Penny left the table with her cup as she started moving through the crowd. She tried not to bump into people, she found very quickly she could injure someone if she did not stay alert, having knocked someone over earlier and startling the larger man. Weaving through the crowd, she spun expertly to get around people, her gyroscope adjusting her weight and rotation so she would not fall and her external sensors helping her determine how close she got. Most people in crowds did not mind if she was close as long as contact was not made.

Eventually she was close enough to see her friend stiffen and turn her head to see her. It was an interesting observation. She had been aware of Penny the first time they met, maybe she had excellent senses or peripheral vision. She held up a hand in greeting.

"Salutations friend Ume! How are you doing on this most wonderful day?"

She hoped her cheer would help Ume relax her own anxiousness, but the girl blinked in return, looking at Penny for a moment before shaking her head.

"Good morning Penny, I didn't know you'd be around." She said, trailing off the words. "Shouldn't you be in school or something? It's a weekday."

"Atlas Academy ended school the previous week so I was given special permission to explore Vale to expand my horizons."

She was very glad because of the new observations being there had given her. Atlas Academy was nice, certainly the people there were very nice, but she got a larger variety of interaction here in Vale.

"Atlas..." The boy next to Ume almost squeaked. Ume turned her head and gave him a look.

"She's a student here for the Vytal Festival. Some from the other schools have come early." She looked at the boy, who nodded though his face tensed.

"Is there something wrong with your boyfriend, Ume?" Penny inquired and young man froze.

"I..." His voice petered out.

Ume held up a hand.

"By boy friend, do you mean friend who is also a male?" Ume looked at Penny.

"Yes, does that not make logical sense? I heard that groups of females would often be referred to as girlfriends. So he seems to be your friend and a boy, unless he is not." Penny looked at her, momentarily puzzled as Ume took in a breath.

"The actual term is guy friend, he is a guy friend or simply a friend." Ume said. "This is Jaune, we were on our way to Beacon. We had to head into city to get some supplies for his midterms because the school store was out."

Ume turned towards the blonde boy, who just nodded, averting his eyes. An interesting expression, he was clearly anxious. Given, if there were midterm tests and he was a student, that was a likely cause.

"We're in a bit of a hurry to the bullheads."

"I see, though why are you heading in that direction, aren't the bullheads that way?" A quick reference to her map programming showed a much more efficient path on foot.

Ume paused for a moment, looking down. "I suppose you're right, must have gotten turned around, silly me."

"Would you like me to guide you?" Penny smiled again, extending a hand to her friend. She would not have been surprised for someone to get lost, the city of Vale was quite expansive.

"Sure." Ume said. "That would be fine, in fact, would you like to come over to Beacon? I don't know if there's any policy for it, but you'll be coming to stay there for the festival anyway. I'm sure if I asked they wouldn't mind."

"That sounds sensational! I would certainly love to see Beacon, would you be acting as a guide?" Penny inquired.

"Certainly, though I'll have some stuff I'll need to do first." Ume said with a smile that Penny logged. It seemed just a bit off, but maybe it was just the girl's own excitement.

* * *

Truth be told, I didn't feel great about using Penny like I was, but there were limited options available to me. I knew Penny was a huntress in training, I knew she was friendly to me and I knew presumably if someone else attacked us she'd intervene.

If it was just me I wouldn't have put her in such danger, but I had to protect Tukson as well and guard work was a two man job anyway. It also helped that she was another pair of eyes, I was already splitting my focus as I kept up the henge on Tukson. Thankfully, he and Jaune were about the same height. I couldn't do anything about his voice, but it would be easier to explain Jaune Arc taking a bullhead to Beacon instead of a random civilian. If I had to guess, Jaune would likely still be asleep as we called off morning training during the week of midterms. He and his team had been, like many students, filling up the library to review and quiz so they could take the paper tests. Thankfully Jaune didn't have much trouble with learning the material and Pyrrha was more than willing to help fill him in. He was missing four years of hunter prep school as foundation, so the last few weeks had been a lot of rigorous forced review to make sure he passed.

Ruby had apparently much the same problem as she was admitted to Beacon early, so the two teams did study groups, often late into the night. The tests were spread out through the week and unlike some of the more sadistic college schedules were in the afternoon. So when the bullhead landed most of the campus was pretty bare as it was only about nine thirty, and a lot of students were likely sleeping off late night study sessions.

Penny glanced around the bullhead as we landed, taking in the Beacon campus as we walked forward.

"What a lovely campus, I'd never been to another hunting school before. What do you think the intent of the design was? I don't think it was for war or protection given the open spaces and lack of walls for proper security protocol."

I actually paused as I dragged Tukson disguised as Jaune.

"I know, right? You'd think they'd take advantage of the plateau to make it a more defensible position." I shrugged my shoulders. "Honestly, in times of crisis people would probably flock here for protection, but how would it even hold up to an armed assault with all the open space and big glass windows?"

"Not well is my guess, Atlas uses walls as stormbreakers. The architecture is more concrete with windows only near the upper levels to allow proper outlook over the entire grounds in case of invading forces. My father said it's one of the most seige protected institutions in all of Remnant, taking cues and specs from the castles of old." Penny added, her interest clear as we walked.

"Um..." Tukson said.

I blinked and shrugged my shoulders. "Excuse me, Penny, could you wait here? I need to get Jaune back to his team."

"Would he not know the way himself as a student?" Penny's logical question made me pause.

"Normally, but he's kind of dead tired on his feet. Studying late into the night has caused such severe sleep deprivation that it's made him something of a zombie the last couple of days. Found him sleeping against a wall early this morning, which was why I accompanied him into Vale to make sure he got there safely."

"I see, insufficient rest would cause problems in coordination, concentration as well as micro naps that could come at inconvenient times." Penny provided.

"Exactly, I couldn't talk him out of going to the city, but now he needs to rest." I said. I looked at her but didn't see confusion, just expectancy, right, where would she go?"You can wait here, or you could maybe check out the CTT tower, you have one at Atlas Academy, right?"

"We do, every hunter academy is situated so we can defend the tower if ever needed. I believe I can locate it with little trouble."

"Cool, I'll meet you there after I drop off Jaune."

Penny's emotion switched from expectancy to understanding to acceptance in a strange clipshow of emotion, buying my lie easily. God, I worried for the girl if she bought that bull story so easily. A teenager should not be that naïve.

Given, Ruby probably would have bought it as well.

And the rest of the student body still accepts that despite being thirteen I'm actually a class auditor.

Maybe I should just be thankful they aren't being solicited to send money to Nigerian princes and leave it at that.

I all but bodily dragged Tukson down the hallway, every time he moved to speak I made a noise to silence him. His voice was deeper than Jaune's, that couldn't be helped with what little he'd already said to Penny, but anyone else on campus would notice it more prominently. There weren't many people loitering about, either sleeping, studying or just moving on their way to get breakfast, but I couldn't risk it.

I got to Team JNPR's room and knocked on the door. I gambled on who would answer but let out a sigh as I sensed the person. Ren's expression betrayed his surprise as I pushed the disguised Tukson into him and through the door. I kicked the door shut before letting go. The contact gone, the henge dropped and the larger passing black haired faunus was being held up to Ren, who was staring at the sudden intrusion to his personal space.

"Ume, who is…"

"Just a moment."

I scanned the room to find the rest of the team. Nora was still asleep, sprawled in her tank and boxers across her bed. Pyrrha's bed was empty, but I could hear a shower running. Jaune was sitting up in his bed, still dressed in his blue adult sized onesie and wiping his eyes.

"What, huh." The blonde leader blinked at the door. "Was I just over there a moment ago?"

"I'll explain later." I looked from Tukson to the team. "Can you hide him, please? There's, well, there's a mess but I'm working on it."

"Ume, we can't just hide some strange man." Jaune said. I glanced at Tukson, who had taken a step back from Ren, who was still confused in his own calm way.

"You really can." I said, looking back.

"If you explained the situation..." Jaune said.

"Again, later. Look, I'll give you the full details, but the short is, someone tried to kill him, we can't go to the police, we need to hide him." I said.

"Why don't you go to the teachers?" He said.

"Why didn't you ask Port to train you?" I replied and he winced at the fire back. Bit of a low blow.

"Look, I know this is sudden, and strange, but just, hide him for now. Explain to Nora and Pyrrha when she's out of the shower, but keep him in here." I turned to Tukson. "Seriously, don't leave the room. There are cameras on the campus."

"What am I supposed to…"

"Keep living, read a book, stay out of sight, maybe chill in the closet. Don't care, but you need help and I'm helping. Don't leave this room until I come for you." I said.

"What are we supposed to do?" Jaune said this time.

"Keep quiet about this. Okay, don't speculate about it in public or tell team RWBY, at least until I have him gone." I said, rubbing my head. "I'm sort of improvising here."

"You think you can really hide him, also, why did he look like…"

"Again, I'll explain later. I have something else I need to do and sooner is better than later." I headed towards the door and gestured to Tukson. "Hop in the closet or something."

"Is this really necessa..." Tukson started.

"Yes, it is." I grabbed the door handle and paused. "And Jaune, if you see a girl with bright orange hair in a green and white outfit who says Salutations, apologize for being quiet this morning and that you had a bit of a cough that made your voice sound weird."

"What?" He said.

"You heard me. I gotta go." I said as I closed the door and dashed down the hallway. All I could do was trust that one of them wouldn't slip up until I got something resembling a functioning plan together.

This could work, right?

Well, at least it wasn't the worst idea I've ever had on the fly. At least this time I won't lose a limb.

* * *

Jaune was having a strange day. Well, most of his days were in some way strange, especially considering his old life.

Even guessing he might have made it into a hunter academy he'd never imagined he'd be literally thrown into a forest full of grimm, make teammates with a prize fighter, or best friends with a fifteen year old girl who was the partner of the heiress to a multi-billion lien corporation. Ruby wasn't even that strange compared to the girl half her size who was beating the basics of swordsmanship into him on a nightly basis. Add in Nora's ramblings, the general craziness of everyone leading up to the festival and he could with confidence say Beacon was NOTHING like he imagined or in any way expected.

Maybe there was something wrong with his expectations, because despite the craziness there was a method to the madness. They were thrown in because they were expected to handle themselves. They were all mostly the same age and, himself excluded, all deserved to be here to fight as hunters and huntresses. Even Ume made a weird sort of sense.

Who better to audit classes for a school of warriors than an actual warrior.

Her age, behavior and demeanor were bizarrely mature, but then maybe that's just what happened to someone when they were trained and fought from a young age. If you took a child and threw them into a battle, at what point did they stop being a child? It was actually pretty sad when he thought about it, but it fit. If half of what little she said about herself was true, she was as much a child as he was a hunter at that point.

Though it didn't explain why there was now a large man hiding in their room on Ume's request.

Explaining it to the female half of his team had been as awkward as Ume trying to half explain it to them in the first place. For the moment at least they were in agreement to go with it. Ume kept their secrets, both his and team RWBY's, so it wasn't that strange. Hopefully the guy wasn't dangerous.

Given, he didn't really act like a hunter, since he was about as jumpy as the rest of them over the whole situation.

They only had a brief chat with Tukson as they drew the curtains to their windows and left their room in his hands. He seemed nice enough, but it was obvious the poor guy really was scared and it was in the hands of fate whether the staff found him.

Jaune didn't know WHY that was a bad idea, but then, he didn't know who he was running from. They hadn't known initially why they hadn't gotten the teachers to help when Blake ran away, but when Ruby explained it later to him in confidence it made perfect sense. Maybe it would later.

Still, it didn't stop his team, well, more Nora, from speculating as they made their way to class.

"I wonder if they're like a distant relative or something."

"Nora, please don't talk about it. Ume asked…" Jaune said.

"But I mean, I wonder if he's like some sort of relative who came to warn her about an impending threat to the throne and now there's assassins coming to end Ume before she can ascend." Nora said.

"I believe Ume denied being royalty, Nora, which seems more likely since there haven't been any monarchies since the end of the wars." Pyrrha said.

"In any of the KNOWN kingdoms, I bet Ume is a princess from a hidden kingdom and was sent here to hide because she's not old enough to claim the throne, so of COURSE she would deny it. If she told everyone then it would make it easier for the usurpers to find her and…" She made a clicking sound and dragged a thumb across her throat as she walked backwards in the hallway. Most of the students were well aware of her antics and as such gave the group a wide berth, which was fortunate as she did a spin with her arms out. "That's why she would have been trained from birth to be a warrior so she can take out any and all assassins until she reaches maturity, which is when she'll triumphantly return home to get into a final epic duel with the corrupt but secretly tragic monarch of her country and return peace to the land."

"You know, just because Ume's a little weird doesn't mean her life is some sort political fantasy novel." Jaune said this time.

"But, but, how else do you explain how she knows so much about tactics, and fighting, managing people, the fact that she's super jumpy like when you sneak up on her she goes woosh!"

Nora jumped back and in fact into someone. Said someone did not get plowed over by Nora, having taken a step back and held up both hands, bracing against the impact.

Arms waving about Nora was off balance but on one hand Nora was surprised with the gentle push that allowed her to walk forward.

"How coincidental, it is fortunate that I had previously experience with people making sudden abrupt movements that would coincide with an unintentional collision."

Jaune stared at the girl, trying to take apart the sentence. It sounded correct, kind of, but something was off about the tone. Or maybe context on who said it. The girl in front of him with bright orange hair with the pink bow looked his age, maybe a bit younger, but the entire sentence sounded more like it was coming from a walking thesaurus rather than a teenage girl.

"Um, hi?"

"Salutations Jaune, it is good to see you are looking to be in better health."

Jaune blinked again but the introduction hit him. Girl in white and green saying Salutations, who thought he had already met her. Probably had something to do with the fact that the guy hiding in their room had looked like him when he got to the door.

Another question for Ume.

"Um, thanks, it was, I'm sorry, did you say your name before?" He said with a forced smile. He didn't actually know how he was going to do this, he was a terrible liar all things considered an….

"My name is Penny Polendina, it is alright memory is unreliable when low on rest and we did not do a proper introduction. It is good to see you have recovered to a more awakened state though your vocal structure seems a little tense, did you recently take a blow to your geni…"

"No! No, I mean, this is my normal voice." His hands were up at the sudden change of conversation. "Anyway, my name is Jaune Arc, and this is my team." He gestured.

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos," She said.

"Lie Ren, call me Ren." He said.

"And I'm Nora Valkyrie!" Nora jumped up a moment later. "And you must be super strong to stop me like that, did you train special like Ume?" Nora looked at her. "Oh! Are you Ume's sister? Is that why you both have red hair? You're a little weird too, Ume has an accent but likes big words too. She said she has like three sisters, right?"

Penny shook her head.

"I do not share familial relations with friend Ume. In fact, I was currently in search of her location. I had located the CTT Tower but found it closed so I decided to look as she said she would find me shortly after taking Jaune back to his room, but a total of forty seven minutes and twenty seven seconds have passed since that time. As such I was wondering if she got lost or delayed somehow."

"I don't know where she went, did you try her scroll?" Jaune said.

"I did not have her number. Do you have it?" She said.

"Um, sure, let me try." Jaune said as he pulled it out and tried it. The scroll went straight to voicemail, which meant it was either out of power or turned off. "No luck." He shrugged.

"I see, maybe I should keep searching."

"Honestly, it may be better if you simply wait, the Beacon campus is quite large. It would be easy for you to miss Ume if you just went searching about." Pyrrha said.

"I suppose that is correct, though if she is going to be awhile I may need to contact my other friends about my whereabouts."

"Your other friends?" Jaune said.

"From Atlas," Penny said. "Though I would love to spend more time here I was informed you had testing today. It was sensational to meet you all."

"You bet!" Nora said. "We should totally go out into Vale tomorrow, I bet we could totally hit the arcades!"

There was a blink as Penny looked at Nora.

"Are there not several arcades at Beacon?"

"What?" Nora actually turned about. "Where?"

"Well we are walking in one right now, are we not?" Penny looked at the walled area.

"I don't see any of the…"

"Oh, you mean like an enclosed passage?" Pyrrha said.

"Yes, what else would arcade mean?" Penny asked.

"No, no, a video game arcade. You know, with pinball and whack a beowolf." Nora said.

"Ah, I understand." Penny said, pausing for a few seconds. "So most people assume video game arcade when they say arcade, correct?"

"Usually." Jaune said uneasily. Who didn't know what a video game arcade was? Even Ume knew and from all accounts she came from a pretty rural area. "We should probably get going. I don't know what the tardiness policy for tests are, but…"

"Of course, you should not be tardy for a standardized testing period least you be penalized. I am certain I should be able to locate friend Ume on my own, there are only so many places she could be." Penny said before walking past them with a wave, her steps sure.

Jaune looked at her back, then at his team.

"I really hope someone explains what's going on."

"Whatever it is, it can wait until after our exams." Ren added before they headed off to class.

* * *

I stopped at the door of the room and took several deep breaths. This was potentially a bad idea, but the trip over hadn't presented many alternatives. I considered many many alternatives, but most of them were contravulted and likely to fail under any real circumstances. It wasn't like I could keep Tukson at the school. I could probably sneak him out the way I snuck him in, but then what? I couldn't do an entire trip holding him under henge, nor could I do something like ship him in a crate or stuff him in a suitcase. One, he was much too large; two, the confined space might cause him to freak out or cause any number of health problems; three, what if they searched the cargo? I was decent at genjutsu, but if they checked it somewhere I was not close I couldn't cover it.

Though this did bring up the logistical problems of this as well. Still, I had no better options and not a lot of time to plan.

Letting out a sigh, I opened the door, surprising Professor Oobleck before he opened it.

"Ah Ume, I didn't expect to see you today, especially so early. While I do appreciate your willingness to come visit, especially with our upcoming expedition, I am unfortunately booked for the morning distributing exams as well as doing grading. Maybe you could return another time."

"You have twenty minutes until the next exam period and I need five." I stepped forward and he stepped back. "Please."

I looked him in the eyes and he adjusted his glasses.

"Well, I suppose I could spare five minutes if what you have to say is so very important. Though that does beg the question to what cannot wait a few hours even if such a time may seem longer for both you and the students who will be enduring it." He replied.

I closed the door and did a hand gesture to start the bubble jutsu. The air around us formed a bubble and he didn't miss it. His hand actually reached out and touched the outline of it.

"Fascinating. It's a condensation of semisolid air warping the space around us in a spherical manner. Such fine control is unusual for aura based techniques, though assuming this is part of a semblance that may explain it more easily."

"It's not a semblance." I said. "It's a technique for breathing underwater. You form a bubble on your head to hold extra air. Not good for long term use, though. In this case, however, it also muffles our voices."

This caught his attention as he turned from the bubble to me.

"Is there a reason you feel compelled to take such a precaution?" He didn't do his normal rather verbose speech. Usually a sign he's stopping to think about this.

"If I asked you to do something for me, to help me do something that was moral but not exactly legal. Would you?" I said.

"I cannot accurately assess that statement until I have details." Oobleck said. "Is something wrong?"

"There's always something wrong, isn't there? But everyone ignores it, everyone just turns their eyes away and keeps positive. Lovely strategy to keep the grimm away, but it doesn't solve anything, especially since someone tried to murder someone else in broad daylight, tch." I let out a breath.

"What happened?" He looked at me, more worried. "Did someone, did someone try to hurt you?"

"Not me." I shook my head. "And I didn't hurt anybody either. It didn't get that far, but the fact that it almost did happen has me on edge. Someone's in trouble Oobleck, and I need to get them away from here."

"The expedition." He came to the conclusion quickly. He did everything quickly, I shouldn't have been surprised. "It's not illegal to take people out of the country. Especially if they are fearful for their life. Though if that's the case, why not go to the authorities?"

"Because the authorities are racist." I said. "And likely compromised."

"A faunus then." He replied. "But for what reason would you suspect them crooked?"

"Honestly, it wouldn't matter if they weren't. Two hunters, or at least two people with awakened auras posing as hunters tried to kill him. They'd tear through civilian authority like toilet paper. Unless you're telling me normal cops can stand up to hunters even if they do have awakened auras." I said.

He furrowed his brow and held a hand under his chin as he thought.

"No, you are correct. The average cop does not have an awakened aura. There are a few select task forces which do use aura, sometimes headed by retired hunter and huntresses, a normal detail wouldn't be sufficient. Though we could go to Ozpin, his protection would be more than suffi…"

"No." I said simply. "We can't take a risk like that."

"Why is that? Ozpin has hunters at his disposal, he could easily protect this faunus, unless." Oobleck paused as he thought. "You said illegal. A faunus by itself is not indicative of someone who takes illegal actions, but one with certain ties..." He turned to me for confirmation. "The White Fang."

"Yes." I nodded. "He was, recently active with the White Fang. While I think Ozpin could help him, I'm not sure his presence would help Ozpin." I let out a breath. "He's a powerful man, but aiding and abetting a terrorist isn't something you can just let go. I know how reputation is, after the attack at the docks anti-white fang sentiment is at an all time high. If he helped and it got out, it could be devastating."

"While I understand, is that really your call to make, Miss Ume?" Oobleck said. "Ozpin is a powerful man, but not one who has always stood uncontested. Someone in position would have taken on worse to get to where he is. Assuming he cannot handle something like this by taking the choice out of his hands seems a bit arrogant on your part."

"Maybe." I said. "But what if he calls the cops? What if he has the person interrogated for information on the White Fang? I think Ozpin's a good person, but good people can make mistakes. If pressed, good people can do horrible, horrible things."

"You have very little faith in him." He said. "But more in me, to bring this information forward."

"Well, more lack of options, honestly." I let out a breath. "They, they have family in Vacao, they could go there, they could disappear, they don't have to be a part of this anymore. They didn't want to be a part of it in the first place. I don't want them to be dragged into this further."

"You seem awfully protective of this person. Is this someone important to you?" He asked.

"Not anymore than the people here, I suppose. But well," I ran my hand through my hair.

"They doesn't deserve to be caught up in all of this. They're just someone who got in too deep with the wrong people. Even if Ozpin doesn't hurt them, can you honestly tell me he won't try to use them instead?"

Oobleck seemed to pause for a long moment before letting out a deep sigh and rubbing the skin of his nose where his glasses rest.

"You certainly bring up such troubling things before exams."

"That's not really an answer." I replied.

"You want to extract a promise out of me." He said. "You wish for a promise for this mystery person."

"No, I want to extract a deal." I replied.

"A deal?" Oobleck looked at me. "What in the world do you think to offer?"

"You keep this quiet, we take him to Vacao, and afterwards. I'll tell you, my story. My real story, not the edited bits and pieces you get from me, but a real, complete detailed history of who I am, and where I'm from." I said.

His eyebrows had risen above his glasses as he looked at me. But he was intrigued. Most of the conversation he was off put, interested but conflicted. Now though his curiosity showed through. Oobleck wasn't an idiot, he KNEW I wasn't sharing the entire story when I talked to him, knew there was something more.

"You do go for quite the golden apple there, don't you Miss Ume? I expected you to try to convince me to a more benevolent cause to transport your friend. Perhaps trying to appeal to my better nature."

"You are good natured Professor, but that isn't what drives you. You're a scientist and what all scientists want is more information." I raised my eyebrows. "You don't have to take the offer. Though I'm not sure I can go on the expedition with you if you don't, as I'll be otherwise occupied."

"Now that is just playing dirty." He replied. "Holding your usefulness hostage is quite a low blow considering how much depends on you moving the equipment." He looked at me hard, though his aura was flickering with several emotions, some of it was mild amusement. "I shall need to think about it."

"That's not good enough." I replied. "Really, what's to stop you from going to someone else, telling them and blowing it? Either you promise me now, or I'm leaving now and spending my break trying to do something else."

"You opened with an argument appealing to good nature, then went for a carrot when that did not seem to satisfy, as well as following with a stick as well. Now you're trying to pressure me with a snap decision while I am already strapped for time to get to my exams. While I dislike its use on me, your execution of negotiation skills are, while rushed, very convincing. Will you not let me leave until you get an answer?" Oobleck looked at me expectantly.

"I can't actually stop you if that's what you mean." Well, I could, but not in a tasteful way. "You can leave but as I said, if I don't get a promise I'm gone."

He let out a deep breath from his nose.

"While I do not find this a favorable situation, especially with the precarious nature of such acts and especially with such blatant if exemplimary acts of exploitation of our previous arrangement to push me into a corner where I cannot in good conscience reject your offer. Not only because of the losses but also because of the risk you may face should I not simply go along with this situation. However, know that I do so with protest that you should maybe trust more in the adults around you."

"Is that a promise?" I said.

"It's a grudgingly given promise given at proverbial knife point as it were. I will help you in your transport, though we will need to get some proper papers in order for transport. I know some people, so it will not take long, though I wish to meet this person as soon as possible if I am going to involved in such an act on their behalf." He said. "Though you put a lot of faith that a simple promise will keep me at bay for taking a saner route."

I let out a deep sigh of relief before closing my eyes.

"Professor, you are a man of science, a field fueled by men doing the insane to try and figure out the world, and you're a hunter, those who throw themselves at danger so others don't have to. Both things tell me you wouldn't put a civilian in harm's way if you could help it."

"Your words are very kind, but even so I must get going." He pushed past me to head out the door. "Any insane acts must be held up until I finish my duty as a teacher, after all."

* * *

 **Hi everyone! I promised new PITD before the end of the summer, or at, or something. Anyway, it's here!**

 **This took a long time to write partially because I've been busy, partially because it's such a long chapter, mostly cause I was undecided on what route to take this.**

 **Anyway, I'll see what I can do. This isn't an abandoned fic, just bear with me while I wrestle everything in place.**


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Ruby was absolutely drained as she exited the exam hall. It was a mixture of mental exhaustion and relief at the fact that midterms were in fact over. While the coursework wasn't that hard, it was a lot to remember. She especially had the handicap of being two years behind in coursework compared to her peers. Thankfully, she wasn't unfamiliar with huntsman lore and anything she didn't understand she could ask her father. Thanks to him she had the last two years of Signal curriculum on hand to study, with digital texts and practice exams to make sure she learned the important bits. Weiss had helped as well, drilling her excessively to make sure she didn't have to suffer the humiliation of her own team leader flunking the exams. Ruby appreciated the effort of her partner even if it upped the pressure, but for now she was just glad it was over with.

Which was why, as she walked a bit haggardly out of the classroom with the intent to return to her room and take a good long nap, she was startled to be met by bright green eyes and a familiar smile that stepped in her way.

"Augh! Penny!" She jumped back, a jolt of energy appearing out of nothing at her surprise, followed immediately by a crash as she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things from lack of sleep.

"Salutations, Ruby." Penny greeted. "I see you have just finished your exams."

"I, um…" Ruby blinked. "Penny what, how, when…" She stopped herself and slowed down. "Why are you here?"

Ruby looked around for support but found she was mostly alone. Her team must have walked ahead, or maybe just stalked off to get to their rooms. She knew Jaune's team had been in a hurry to get to the door when the exam ended.

"Ume brought me to show me the academy, but left as soon as we arrived. I have been searching for her since then. I was searching for her myself, but found myself redirected by another teacher who asked if I knew anyone here. Obviously I knew Ume and yourself, so they directed me here to wait for you." Penny said. "As I was unfruitful in my search for Ume I determined since you have known her longer you would be more likely able to locate her."

"Did you try calling her?" Ruby asked.

"I do not have her number as we did not exchange our scroll numbers last time. However, now that we are here that seems like a sensational idea." Penny held out a hand. "May I see your scroll so I may send a message to mine?"

"Um, sure." Ruby was a bit on the backstep because of the suddenness of Penny's appearance, but it couldn't hurt. Unlocking her screen she set it to text and handed it over to Penny. The girl tapped the screen a few times and sent a message, before handing back the scroll. Unusually, Penny didn't even stop to check to see if her scroll had gotten the message. "Honestly I'm kind of tired Penny, I was just going to head back to my room."

Penny seemed to pause and contemplate the words for a moment.

"What a phenomenal idea! I had not thought to check the dorms because of people's sense of privacy but if Ume had been tired she may have returned to her dorm to rest as well. Could you take me to her room so I may inquire there?"

"I don't know where Ume's room is." Ruby said as she started walking. She never visited Ume in her room, just knew that she went up the stairs further than Ruby did when they returned to the dorms. "But Jaune does and his team's room is next to ours."

"Sensational!" She exclaimed as she followed Ruby back to the dorms.

Honestly, Ruby didn't know if she had the energy to keep up with Penny today. It wasn't that she didn't like the girl, she was really nice, a bit weird but nice, it was just all she wanted to do was crawl under her sheets and rest her eyes until it was time for them to leave for the boat to Patch.

Thankfully, Penny didn't try to talk when they walked through the campus, or maybe Ruby zoned out as she walked, she didn't know which. But when she got to her dorm she and Penny caught Ume's eye as she stepped halfway out of the doorway of Jaune's room.

Ume in return froze as soon as she spotted the two of them.

"Hello, Ume!" Penny seemed unaware of Ume's discomfort, or maybe she mistook it for something else, but when she spoke Ume broke out of her daze and hustled back into Jaune's room. At least for a moment. She then walked back out and shut the door behind her.

"Hi Penny."

Ruby looked at Ume as she shifted her feet a little bit. It was a stance Ruby could imagine herself using rather than Ume. Despite being younger, Ume never took such postures that made her look, well, vulnerable. Yes, that was the right word. Ruby didn't notice before, but she'd never seen Ume look sheepish. It just wasn't how the small girl held herself. Ume always looked like she knew what she was going to say and had a handle on what was going on. It was this strange confidence that sometimes made Ruby forget Ume wasn't technically supposed to be their peer.

"I see you found Ruby, did you enjoy your day on campus?" Ume's voice was a little low and she wasn't really looking at Penny when she said this, her finger scratching her chin.

"I did manage to do a thorough surveying of the area. Though that was more because I had such a hard time locating you after you said you would quickly return. Did you get lost?" Penny stated.

Ume gave a light chuckle.

"I guess you could say that." Looking at Penny, then Ruby, she seemed to straighten up a bit, assuming a posture more normal for her. "But I suppose you found me. I wonder, if you had the time, maybe you wanted to see the school's workshop?" Ume turned to Ruby. "Maybe we can get some input on our project."

Ruby winced a bit inside. She really didn't want to walk all the way to the workshop. While any other day she'd be excited to talk, the testing had drained her.

"I don't kno…"

"I mean, I did just buy a giant pack of Starflakes double chocolate mint cookies we could share while we talked." Ume mentioned it in a off handed way, but Ruby perked up.

"I thought those were sold out?" Ruby blinked. They were a seasonal item that were sold at the Starflakes cookie factory at the mall and it was always sold out by the time she got there after class.

"I asked an associate when the next shipment would come in and got there when it opened yesterday." Ume said. "I have some fresh milk to go with it. Why don't we head down there and see?"

Ruby perked up at this and then looked at Penny. Even if she was tired it'd been forever since she had the Starflakes double chocolate mint cookies.

"That sounds outstanding, Ume." Penny replied with a big smile.

* * *

I still felt like a bit of an ass for forgetting about Penny with everything that had happened. Mostly because I'd basically dragged her on campus as an extra pair of eyes in case those two assassins tried to ambush us. Especially since I ditched her afterwards. I mean, extenuating circumstances aside, bit of a dick move there.

Thankfully, Penny was either ignoring the social slip up or completely unaware of it. Honestly, I think it was the latter. There was something off about Penny, and not just because of how her aura felt. Sometimes she was so very on topic that it was frightening the amount of detail she noticed about something and sometimes she was so very off it that it was surprising she could function in society at all.

The only logical explanation I could think of was a combination of extreme sheltering and maybe a slight to severe case of autism. Honestly I wasn't sure how I could broach the subject to ask, it was entirely possible that nobody here knew autism existed or even if it was called that. It certainly didn't have a name back home even if there were certainly people I suspected to have it there as well.

Still, as we entered the workshop and I set up a table for us to eat Penny didn't seem put off by the fact I'd blown her off for a good part of the day. So I guess that was a win? Maybe?

Nope, still felt guilty, I really shouldn't get into the habit of doing stuff like this.

At least Ruby, whom I'd dragged along to be a social buffer for my screw up, was easily placated with a large pile of cookies and a bottle of whole milk. Honestly, I'd bought the cookies yesterday to give to her as congratulations on getting through her exams. It couldn't have been easy for her because she had to catch up on two years of material, after all. I'd gotten Jaune something similar since he was starting from scratch, but that'd been pushed to the wayside because of the situation with Tukson.

Honestly, I wanted to get back to that quickly, but I did have to wait anyway while Oobleck graded his exams anyway.

There was a bit of awkward silence as cookies were devoured. Penny really looked like she was enjoying the cookies with the way she put whole cookies in her mouth and chomped them down. It was odd, but not the strangest way I've ever seen someone eat. I mean, I've seen Benjiro deconstruct and eat all the separate parts of a sandwich just to see how it would taste without all the components. She was curious at the experience I suppose, maybe she didn't eat many sweets at home. Most I knew about Atlas was that it was mostly frigid tundra that got most of its money from mining and technology. They probably imported most of their food, so they didn't get sweets. Or maybe she was on a super strict diet from Atlas academy. Again, didn't know much about it other than apparently it's more militant than Beacon in design.

"Friend Ume, did you want to talk about the project?" Penny inquired, shaking me out of my thought cycle.

"Right, it's the project for a prosthetic arm. We've been working on it some more, though I've been having some trouble with it overheating." I said as I headed over to our little cubby.

Everyone had a workshop cubby to store their tools in the workshop. I shared Ruby's because I didn't have many tools that I didn't store on my person. Pulling out the notebook and a couple of the burned out husks we made, I brought them over to the table.

Ruby picked up the plate of cookies as I brought everything over, one hanging out of her mouth which she pulled in with a few bites before speaking. A few crumbs spilled out of her mouth and onto the table as she spoke.

"Wow, you started doing trials already?"

"You were not present for this, Ruby?" Penny asked as she reached out and paused as if asking for permission. When I nodded she picked up one of the burnt out false arms and looked inside. "Interesting, there seems to be a flashpoint near the center, but what is with these wires? Did the heat strip them?"

"They're not wires Penny, they're thread." Ruby explained as she grabbed one of them with her hand and pulled out the thread out and held it to Penny. "It's special thread from Ume's home that conducts aura. It's how she moves the arms."

Penny blinked, her aura shifting to surprise, then back to curiosity as she took the thread and stared at it.

"This doesn't seem to be made of flax, wool, cotton or any other type of known textile."

"Because it's not." I said. "It's made from khakri. It's a special plant that grows in my homeland."

Penny looked at the thread for a few moments and pulled at it. She snapped it in two after a tug.

"Its tensile strength is higher than normal thread but less than a metal wire. Wouldn't there be structural problems when using this? Would it not snap with movement?"

I smiled at her and shook my head.

"Well, obviously by itself it's just a bit stronger than silk, but that's because you're not channeling." I grabbed some thread myself and held one end while giving it to Penny. "Hold it out again."

Penny complied and I set my index finger on the center of the string she held taut, then started to channel my chakra into it to make it stronger.

"Now try to snap it."

Penny pulled at the thread while I did so. For several seconds she separated her fingers, but the string stayed taut for several seconds before snapping after the effort. I actually blinked at her in surprise as I looked. She was surprised too, though her face didn't show it.

"That time the tensile strength was just short of that of high grade carbon fiber."

If it was that strong how the holy hell are you strong enough to snap it with your fingers. Ruby certainly couldn't manage something like that, even huntress trained as she was. I don't think Gonmaru could do so unless he changed to stone form.

"The fabric is designed to work with the aura of the user. You know how aura protects the clothing of the individual. This is the opposite, the aura strengthens the fabric, allowing the fabric to stop it from being torn or cut, as well as reduce the impact of blunt damage." Ruby repeated the explanation I gave to her a long time ago. "All of Ume's clothing is made of the stuff."

"I see. Is it common where you are from? If so, I'd imagine lots of people would be interested in it's uses." Penny looked at me, curious.

I looked away and scratched my nose.

"Actually there's a couple of problems with that. One is that it actually isn't that common, at least not in the concentration we're working with. The plant is really hard to work into thread and cloth, and even harder to cut and shape after the fact because of how sturdy it is. Two, travel to my home is a bit restrictive at the moment." Which was a half lie. "So it's not likely we'd be able to import or trade any time soon."

"Where is your home located exactly?" Penny inquired, still curious.

"It's not actually important." I waved a hand. "The thread is working, it helps connect to someone's aura and if they manipulate it properly they can translate with the help of the core seal to move the fingers." I reached into the husk and grabbed the strings which moved the two fingers on the prototype that hadn't burnt away or fallen off. "The problem is, even with the core, it's hard for normal people to channel their aura in such a way."

Penny stared for a few moments, her emotions switching from surprise, curiosity, then slight elation.

"I see, you wish to use an engine to supply either aura or an alternative power source. Though how would you connect it so that it would respond? Usually such things require several subprograms to run." Penny held up the arm and examined it. "But still, that it works at all is remarkable. Moving a single finger using the electrical impulse on a purely robotic arm takes several hundred lines of code to mirror such a task. The fact that you can do so with what looks like no robotic parts is extraordinary. I heard of aura manipulation used for movement, but never to this level with such complimentary materials."

"Well, maybe a robotic arm would be better." I let out a sigh. "Because it is extraordinary, in that even with core to sort the instructions so far I'm the ONLY person who can use this."

"Is that a semblance?" Penny asked.

"No, if someone who used aura practiced they could learn to use the arm, but only warriors have that amount of control." I replied. "This is all a testing bed, these prototypes are being made mostly for my personal use, but if we can use engines to replace or optimize the use of aura, maybe it can be more accessible to people with lower control."

"Optimize the use of aura." Penny said the words, her aura switching from curiosity to subtle amazement. "You talked of a seal, how does that work? Is it a programming platform?"

"Not in the sense you're probably thinking of, it's not an electrical computer, though it does act a bit like a program." I pulled a core out of the arm. It was a metal sheath with some threads on it that went on my sword. "Push a little aura into that, see what it does."

Penny nodded before doing so. The core reacted a bit and the threads moved. Penny blinked in surprise and looked at it.

"There's no mechanical parts, just this inscription and sheet metal, as well as ink?" She stared into the inscription that circled the metal. At the ink that was in the grooves.

"It's special ink. Like the thread, it conducts the aura. The inscription directs the flow of the aura, making it activate with just a force of will." I replied said as I took the other husk arm and fit it onto my sword. "The sword acts as a medium for me to flow my aura." I pulled the fingers down more quickly and fluidly now that I had the core to help direct it. "It's a bit like trying to fill a water bottle at a tap, without the core it's just straight under the tap, with the core it's like I'm using a funnel. It's easier to control and less messy. Though I guess it's more like a funnel with a long tube, or, no a program is still a better analogy."

"I don't fully understand. But it is fascinating." Penny looked at the arm. "You're trying to work a fully mechanical component into a non mechanical solution."

"It's still mechanical." I said. "It just uses, simple mechanics. There's a couple of bends, fulcrums and little pullies to hold the thread." I moved the finger.

"No, this is different. There is aura in this, there is life." Penny's eyes sparkled as she exacerbated excitement. "A combination of man and machine. I would love to see how you connected the engine to this."

"Sure, Penny." Ruby said, finally rejoining the conversation after she had drifted off finishing the bag of cookies and her milk. "We got a ton of notes on it right here."

"That would be stupendous. I would love to see all the parts, especially the special ink. Though I do not seem to see it in any of the supplies." Penny scanned the pile with her eyes.

"Well um." I paused and scratched my cheek. "I actually used a good bit of it, making more seals for other projects." I had to remake my storage seals again after team CRDL tried to wash my clothing. I also made a ton of new seals to hold stuff for the trip. I had to make new ones to account for the size of bigger items, after all. Still, feeling Penny visibly deflate I looked at her and held up the husk arm. "But I can get more. Won't take more than about twenty minutes."

Penny flickered through her emotions but went back to just excited.

"Sensational, I will stay here and look over the notes while you go to acquire it."

"Sounds good." I stood and looked at Ruby. "You can explain our notes, right, and…" I trailed off and took the false husk off my hand. It wasn't very useful since it only had two fingers and was half burnt. "You can go ahead and take a look at that too and I'll be right back."

Exiting the workshop I let out a sigh as I checked the time. I think the school store was already closed for the day. Maybe I could ask Professor Oobleck for some more ink, he seemed like the type to have traditional ink pots. Well, at least Penny was excited. Hopefully this would make up for how I treated her. If I only had to bleed a little bit to do that, I'd call it a win.

* * *

The way the day started was not as strange as it should have been. Though in all fairness things out of the ordinary usually happened during otherwise ordinary times.

Bart woke up at the normal time he did every morning. The cafeteria was closed, so he made himself eggs and toast. He put his coffee beans in a grinder, it was an original blend of mistrialian and vacao based dark bean mix that he bought by the bucket full. He ground extra and stored it in a special tin to take on his trip. It was the only thing he hadn't already prepared well in advance, and as he sat down at the table he ate his breakfast as he listened to news reports off his scroll.

The mundaneness of it all made him almost forget he was going to harbor a criminal out of the country. Though it was a minor criminal, from the sounds of it someone who imported goods rather than committed actual crimes, for an organization that only turned down the path it was on out of sheer desperation that its voice was not being heard. It was quite sad really, most people really weren't prejudiced against faunus, it was just the vocal minority out ruling the otherwise peaceful, or rather, indifferent majority. It didn't help a lot of people currently in charge were just old enough to remember the violent conflicts of the wars with the faunus by experiencing them first hand. Heroes of war turning politician was not terribly uncommon, after all. Those who didn't have that sort of prestige to rely on wouldn't take real hardline stances against the issue of faunus rights one way or another. No, they would try to seem as ambivalent as possible in order to secure the most amount of votes, but when it came to enforcing change they were overruled by those who had less moderate opinions because they had secured their position through different means of prestige.

Ozpin was one of such members who had very clear concise opinions, being very anti-war, anti-racism and in general open minded. But he also had the benefit of having led the extermination forces that held the massive tide of grimm at bay as their numbers exploded during the wars. That, along with the color revolution, was one of the reasons the fighting stopped. Still, despite his pull, Ozpin was one man, he had spearheaded change and there were laws that encouraged peace and equality, but having a law and actually enforcing it amongst the populace were two very different things. The results in that department spoke for themselves.

Goodness, Bart was spending too much time with Ume, her cynicism was rubbing off on him.

Closing his eyes he removed his glasses and rubbed them for a moment before finishing his mug of coffee. The strangeness of the situation wasn't really as disturbing as the sheer amount of risk involved, which was likely why Ume had cornered him so and made him promise to help. He'd met the individual the night before and was surprised to see that he was the owner of a local bookstore, one of the faunus with a subtle animal trait that could easily be hidden. It really shouldn't have surprised him, there had been stories of such faunus passing, as it was called, to avoid scrutiny. He'd visited that shop on more than one occasion, it was a smaller one but reliable for getting rare reading material. In hindsight, the fact that such a small shop with a singular owner was able to support itself consistently in the highly competitive market that was the city of Vale might have been a signal that something was amiss. If it was associated with the White Fang and moved things like goods and money, they might have worked to support it to keep it open. Though still, it didn't seem like the man was, in and of himself, dangerous.

He certainly seemed nervous when he first met him, he was very nervous as they went through the paperwork. Bart then had to call a friend whom he knew worked for a traveling office and get some papers for him after closing hours. It didn't take long because the man didn't have any criminal charges or warrants. It was all very legal, which made Ume a bit jumpy when they spoke about it, citing there would be a paper trail. While that was very true, it also wouldn't matter once they did get to Vacao. The papers were just to get him on the bullhead and into the country, once he was there he could simply leave and live at one of the several moving settlements that roamed the deserts of Vacao. Most of which, according to Tukson, really didn't keep such records.

Still, as Bart grabbed his luggage and walked through Beacon he still wondered if this would go at all smoothly. Or even if he should go through with it. It was risky business, transporting civilians, and while he had experience with it the opponents he defended against were usually grimm, not human beings. It added a layer of complexity to this that he wasn't entirely sure he was ready to deal with, though honestly he wasn't as sure he would be ready to deal with the consequences of losing Ume's trust. Logically breaking a promise made under such decisively unfavorable conditions that she put him under shouldn't actually put him at risk, but she seemed to be doing so from a place of actual desperation to help someone who was in danger. Even if he did so to acquire more help with the situation it would still cause Ume to lose faith in him. It wasn't a desirable outcome, especially because of how engaged and also how engaging she was to speak to.

Few people, let alone younger people, really appreciated the history of this world, even fewer asked as many questions about it as she did. When she didn't understand something she was always looking for context about it rather than just accepting it as is, she never settled for a lazy answer like 'that's just the way it was back then', she wanted to know all the factors, cause and effect. Some of the things he knew readily, some of them gave him pause as he promised to look them up to double check things. Then there was the things she'd say about her home, her village as she called it.

A place that from the way she spoke of it was so isolated and insular from the rest of the world that its culture evolved into something completely different. Some people scoffed at the idea of such things being so, but really was it so strange to think? So much of the world was currently unexplored because of the grimm as well as war. In fact, human war had done as much if not more to damage the records of history than the grimm. Civilizations that just vanished in the midst of crisis, becoming more myth than anything concrete. What was real and what was made up was hard to sort. What to believe was hard to say because of just how dangerous it was to look at all. Every few years there seemed to be some sort of evidence of some lost culture or civilization, but follow up was always hard because the places that were lost to time tended to be hotbeds of the grimm and such places were such hazards that getting any support and funding by the council was near impossible.

No, he wanted to know about that place, the place she called home, not just for the cultural significance but also an explanation. After all, what sort of place creates an individual quite like Ume?

As he got to the door of her room he paused to look at it before reaching out to knock. He needn't bother, as she opened it before his fist reached the wood. He looked down at the girl and found her, not in her normal clothing, but instead a pair of denim overalls over a white long sleeved turtleneck. Not only that, her hair, usually up in a very high bun, was instead in pigtails. He blinked for a moment, taking her in with just how bizarrely mundane she looked. If he saw her in the crowd he wouldn't have thought this was Ume at all, up close he saw the end of the sleeve where there was but wrapping around her blade as her false arm was still broken.

"Good timing, Doctor." She said in a very busy-like manner. "We're just about ready."

She gestured back to Tukson, who was seated on the edge of the bed in tan slacks and a collared shirt he'd gotten from somewhere. He had shaved recently, having a clean visage instead of the prominent sideburns from before, and was wearing sunglasses. He was still visibly quite tense as he sat there. In contrast, Ume looked remarkably calm, in fact in that outfit especially as she picked up a backpack and put it on her shoulders he could have mistaken her for a normal little girl heading to primary school.

"Are you ready?"

Bart paused for a moment before looking at them again. Was he?

"As I'll ever be, I suppose. We'll have to be off."

* * *

 **What do you call work exhaustion plus an overwhelming, I guess it's not really a desire, maybe inability to do things? I think clinical depression maybe? Not sure, never been to a therapist but I probably have some symptoms. Really don't have the money or insurance to go get a diagnosis honestly. Given that's not the only thing delaying me, Stardew Valley and Monster Hunter World finally being released on PC did (I'm frankly not great at console games like XBox or Playstations, the controllers are too big for my tiny hands to really use proficiently). Anyway, next chapter, getting onto Vacao.**


	32. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The silence was altogether both welcoming and disconcerting. It was a bit jarring as Weiss sat at her desk, going over her calendar. The habit had been ingrained into her from a young age as a way to always be on top of her busy schedule. A Schnee, after all, did not idle away the hours. If there were lessons that could be attended they would be scheduled, if there were connections that could be made they would be carefully set-up and monitored. If there was a blank space in her calendar it would be quickly filled.

At first it was just because that was the way things were, but as she became older it became something more important. Having a free day, a blank spot meant all she'd have to do was to be home alone. Her position didn't allow her the freedom to simply move about the city as she pleased. It was too dangerous, especially in the last few years with the escalation against the SDC from the White Fang.

Ironic that with her week free, most of her time would be spent in the company of a former member.

Weiss looked at the clear space in her calendar for one last time before she closed the program on her scroll. Beacon had been freeing in that sense because of the amount of unscheduled activity in the beginning of the year. As time went on though, it became more familiar. They had scheduled team training sessions, study sessions, meal times to make sure no one forgot to do that to fit into the empty spaces of their school schedule. The last few weeks had been jammed full with group and individual study time as they prepped for their midterms. There hadn't been time for much else as they moved from day to day to make sure they didn't flunk out the academic portion of the academy.

In the end though, Weiss had to admit that while the studying had been necessary to succeed academically, it had also served as a distraction from the issue at hand. Well, it had been one of the things that served as the distraction. The other two things, well, people, really who did so had left about an hour previously.

It might be rude to think of her team leader and her sister as distractions but in a way they fit the bill perfectly. It wasn't a bad thing, it was hard to dwell and simmer on certain things when they were around, Ruby's cheer and Yang's boisterousness filling up awkward silences and pushing back bad feelings. Now that they were gone, the empty space they occupied was now filled with other thoughts. Normally she'd be fine with the silence, it was something she often shared when the other two teammates left them to their own devices. It or whatever light small talk they had was nice because they didn't expect much from each other so they could be comfortably quiet.

Turning in her chair, Weiss looked across the room to her equally silent teammate. Blake sat on her bunk, her knees pulled up as she read studiously from her book. Weiss took in a deep breath and leaned forward as she considered what she should say. Really, in this case simple was best.

"So, we should talk."

Blake raised her head, her ribbon twitching slightly as she pulled out a bookmark and set it in place.

"Is there some place you want to start or anything specific you want to talk about?"

"Well, I'm not sure." Weiss replied. "I don't care what you were because that's not you anymore. But at the same time, it's still something that was a part of you. It's still important and I think it's something we should discuss. Maybe a bit more calmly this time."

"I'm not sure there's much of a bar for how _calmly_ we discussed this last time." Blake said, her voice dry as she set down her book. "But I guess after what happened, you deserve some answers."

"I think so too, but I think you deserve something as well."

Weiss closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. Breathing out, she steeled herself for something she was taught never to do. Something she figured out early on she would have to discard if she wanted things to work out, but was still hard to swallow all the same. A few months didn't completely undo a lifetime. Opening her eyes she said the words clearly.

"I'm sorry, Blake."

She didn't know what the faunus was expecting, but that clearly wasn't it. The yellow eyes widened as she fumbled for a moment for what to say.

"Wha, why?! You didn't do anything. In fact you saved me, saved me from my own foolishness."

Weiss smiled just a bit at the display. The normally stoic girl bursting out was a rare sight. Still, she kept to the topic at hand.

"I wouldn't have needed to save you in the first place if I hadn't pushed you away."

"But that wasn't your fault, you were right. The White Fang, we, they did awful things. They're STILL doing awful things." Blake said.

"So is the Schnee dust company." Weiss shook her head. "I may have defended it, but don't think I'm unaware. I know faunus aren't treated right in the workforce, and Schnee dust is taking advantage of that."

Weiss took a deep breath.

"It's one of the reasons I'm still the heiress, despite everything I hate about what my father's done, about the people he's hurt or run out of business in the interest of profit." And all the people he hurt in the interest of himself.

"But that wasn't you." Blake protested again. "You didn't make those policies. You were twelve when the rebellions started."

"That didn't change what I did to YOU." Standing up, Weiss actually walked over and sat on Blake's bed. The girl didn't shift away as she did so. "You ran away because you were afraid I was going to persecute you because of what happened with the White Fang, which considering the things I said, why wouldn't you think that? I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have put you in a position where you thought you weren't safe here at Beacon. Safe with us."

"But I lied." Blake said, pulling her knees into herself. "I hid what I was, I'm still hiding. I'm still running." Blake reached up to her ribbon. "I can't believe she said I was brave for that."

"Who?" Weiss asked.

"Ume, she said I was brave for running away from the White Fang. That I was brave for wanting to change. There's nothing brave about running." Blake turned away.

"You act like you're the only person here who's ever run away." Weiss said with a smile. "My father may know where I am, but I basically ran away from him, from Atlas, so I wouldn't be constantly living in his shadow." Scooting over, she reached out and put an arm around Blake's shoulders. "And I'm glad. I'm glad I got away from him, that I got away from there. I'm glad you ran away too, because in what other world would I have met you?"

"You're glad you met me, but I was with the White Fang." Blake looked at her, yellow meeting blue.

"You aren't the White Fang. You're you, the other sane person in this room sometimes. If it was just me with the other two I'd probably have torn my hair out in frustration." Weiss joked.

Blake looked down, blinking, before letting out a small chuckle. "They are quite a handful."

Weiss gave a light squeeze. "So do you forgive me."

Blake looked at the covers before looking up to meet Weiss' eyes again. "I do. Do you forgive me?"

"Yes, I forgive you." Letting go, Weiss changed the subject. "Now, the cafeteria's gonna be closed for the week. Want to go grab some dinner? We may need to do some grocery shopping too, which I may need some help with."

"Why? Have you never been grocery shopping before?" Blake asked.

"I know in theory how it's supposed to work, in practice not much need to at home." Weiss replied.

"I can see that. Sure, though if we don't want to eat out every day we may need to stock up on some canned goods and cereal." Blake moved to stand.

"Are you saying you can't cook?" Weiss asked.

"I can cook canned goods and cereal. Really not much time to make much else moving around like we did." Blake shrugged.

"Well, that may be something we can fix. We can probably skip going out and make something here. We're both reasonably intelligent young women? How hard could cooking a meal be?" Weiss said, taking it more as a challenge than anything. She'd never had to cook at home before but she'd also gotten used to cleaning here, it couldn't be that much different.

* * *

The international airship was longer and much wider than a bullhead or an airbus on the exterior. From what I could tell there were augments on the outside and weapons in case of flying grimm. The interior looked more like an airplane from my world, basically lots of seats in rows made to maximize the amount of people you could fit on the ship. There was even a first class and a couch. Both sections had three rows: a left row, a center row, and a right row, with two aisles going down either side. The difference was that the rows in first class had two chairs per section, while the ones in coach had four per section, basically making the first class seats the spatial equivalent in design to two couch seats. There were only five first class rows, so only thirty first class seats. There were thirty rows for couch which meant, including the staff, roughly four hundred people could be accommodated. As it was, I counted about two fifty so far, and that was partially because first class was mostly empty.

I had a window seat on the left side in the twenty first row, Tukson next to me with Oobleck after him, the seat next to him vacant. Danny was currently sat on my lap under a blanket I'd laid over him. Tukson squirmed a little in his seat, it being a bit small for his bulky frame. He might have been more comfortable on the end but he was nervous about being open to an attack so opted to stay between myself and Oobleck. He looked down at Danny and whispered,

"I can't believe you snuck the cat by security. What if we get caught and thrown off?"

I rolled my eyes and set down the book I was pretending to read. Doing a hand sign, I made an air bubble around us to muffle sound.

"I didn't do anything, he just didn't want to be left at Beacon so he followed along. Besides, he wouldn't have stayed in a carrier even if we had bought one, and I shudder to think what'd happen if we let them load him up into the cargo bay."

Oobleck perked up to look.

"While I understand your concern do you really not trust the staff to properly handle things? I'm sure safety is their top concern, otherwise their ratings would surely plummet."

"Ratings can be changed and edited, especially online ones, and no it's not my primary concern. I'm more afraid what Danny would do while bored in a cargo hold after he escaped his carrier. Especially if there was any food transport." I replied.

"But he's just a cat." Tukson said.

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"And I'm _just_ a little girl, right?"

Tukson looked like he was going to say something but his mouth clicked shut a moment later. Oobleck seemed a bit less reserved.

"Still, might be a bit unpleasant if any passengers have allergies, as it's a share air space."

"I gave him a bath last night and brushed him this morning, there's likely more dander on us than him." I said.

I did like the nice new pet brush I got to comb out his fur as well as the special shampoo I could use to clean him. Reaching under the blanket it was so nice and smooth under my unwrapped hand. He purred at the touch and stretched himself out some on my lap under the blanket.

"You still don't think bringing a cat would make us stand out a bit?" Tukson said.

"Not any more than your nervous glances and jumpiness." I said in a flat voice. At least Danny was cool under pressure, I know Tukson was a civilian but if you look like you're gonna have a problem it draws more attention than not.

"Ume is right in that it may serve us better to relax a bit for the trip. Besides, our excavation is in unsettled territory and animals, even domesticated ones, are well known to have keen senses that allow them to be alerted much more quickly to the presence of the Grimm. Besides, Beacon had no holding facilities to properly accommodate pets and will be almost entirely abandoned during the holiday, so feeding and caring for her cat still falls on her."

I just shrugged. That wasn't entirely true, I knew at least Blake was staying behind and Danny liked her well enough to behave and stay close. In the end Danny wasn't just here because he decided to come, I wanted him here because he was familiar and we were going someplace new.

Picking my book back up I stared and tried to focus on the people on the airship around me. My ability as a sensor wasn't something I generally relied on outside of combat, in fact by sensor standards I barely even counted at all. The main reason was because of how incredibly short my range was. It was useless for tracking or picking out someone who was following me. If the emotion was strong enough to reach me at a distance it was strong enough that everyone else was feeling it too. Never mind I could only pick up negative emotions usually related to harming myself.

Here it was a bit different because the aura projected more emotions, though only if it was awakened. Even then I had to be within two meters of someone to actually get a strong enough reading to tell it was a person with an awakened aura, I had to be within a meter to tell what they were feeling. If I focused on them I could classify the quirks of their mood, everyone felt just a little bit different after all. The exception to the range thing was spikes of extreme negative emotion. The sheer dread and hopelessness of Velvet being cornered by team CRDL was one such time. Usually I can't sense much of the other students when I'm close to Team RWBY or JNPR cause their combined proximity surrounded me, but the sheer despair she felt cut through that like a knife. The Grimm were another example, I had a range of about five to eight meters with the sheer amount of hate they put out. At least for the Grimm local to the forest, unlike humans I couldn't actually tell them apart or even know how many there were unless I saw them.

Outside of that, if I focused on doing so, I could sort of pick up the mood of a place, sort of like I was picking up the ambient emotion of the crowd. This wasn't a particularly useful skill because you could do that just through normal observation, but it would help me gauge the land a bit without having to look out and around normally. Also if someone with an awakened aura was semi close, I could figure out which direction and maybe investigate.

Or I would if Tukson wasn't so damn nervous.

Since we left the school, I never strayed far from Tukson because I had a wrap from my sleeve to his midsection which I used to check his vitals. I basically monitored his vitals the entire day. He's been nervous the entire time but not so much as we weren't stationary. I was able to mostly ignore it, but nervousness was not only a negative emotional state, not only was I right next to him crammed into the small travel seats, I was directly connected to him and trying to open my senses up to check the mood of the plane.

Basically, I felt just as nervous as he did just from the damn feedback loop of trying to get anything off of anyone else while next to him.

"Can you calm down?" I said a little bit more irritatedly than I meant to.

"What?" Tukson replied as he looked at me.

"I said can you calm down. You're too nervous, it'll draw attention to us." I said in a low voice.

"What reason do I have to NOT be nervous with everything that's happening right now? What if they're here, what if they get on the ship, what if they take down the ship?!"

The whisper went up on octaves enough that I glanced around to see my air bubble still up. Good, didn't need his panic causing an actual panic because someone overheard.

I twitched my eyebrow, the emotion spiking and making me more uncomfortable.

"Whoever did this doesn't want to be noticed doing this. Their methods so far suggest as much and them taking down a whole airship to get to one person would be much too flashy and noticeable. All evidence suggests they haven't found us since we weren't attacked at the port, so you need to calm down."

"Just because we don't know whether they have found us doesn't mean they haven't! What if they are going to ambush during the flight? What if they're just waiting until we land and are going to kill us in Vacao, what if…"

"Shut up." I said in a harsh bark. I think the tone surprised Tukson as he looked at me. "Shut up and calm down, what if's don't mean anything because it's all speculation." I started to reach into a small hip pack I'd brought as a carry on.

"That doesn't mean it can't happen. Do you have a plan for this? Are we really prepared for…"

"Yes." I said, pulling out a couple of pills. "My plan is for you to take these."

"Those?" He looked at them. "What are those?"

His nervousness went a bit into suspiciousness and apprehension. Negative emotions I could notice because of the situation.

"If I were going to kill you, why would I bother with all of this? They're just going to calm you down. Being nervous puts a target on you because they're LOOKING for someone nervous."

He looked at the pills and grabbed them after a moment. His eyes darted around the aircraft before he downed them both in a dry swallow. It took a few minutes but he did start to calm down. He also started to nod off and before the craft started it's take off routine he was sound asleep.

Oobleck looked at me, the curiosity swirling.

"Sleeping pills? I suppose it was correct in that you said it would calm him down but I do not think he would have otherwise taken them in his current state had you informed him of their purpose previously. Isn't that stretching a bit too much of his trust considering his current anxiety issues?"

"It's partially a safety precaution. If we assume they'd attack while we're on the flight the most stealthy vectors to do so would be either to slip something in his food or drink or to isolate him when he had to get up to go to the restroom. This way he'll do neither, at least during the flight. Also, he is calm now." I said as I turned back to my book.

"Again, this might cause some trust issues down the line. Assuming he is traveling with us he'd be more wary about you giving him such things." Oobleck said.

"Better wary than dead." I replied. "By the way, neither of us should move from our seats during the flight either. I got food and drink as well, you think you can stay awake?" I said.

"I brought reading material and I can certainly keep myself in place as a huntsman. Though I was wondering if we might discuss more about where you came from." Oobleck said.

"Later." I waved him off. "This is too public and I need to drop the bubble. But I will tell you, I promise."

"And I'll hold you to that."

* * *

The outside of the port moved and bucked like a living creature as people moved about, both coming and going inside the port. Some of them were colorful groups moving in streams to get to the port as they went on what most of them would think of as an extended was the students of Shade on their way to get transport to Beacon for the Vytal festival. The students of the local school meandered about, pushing and trying to get to their flights and time slots, making it that much easier to blend in as the two of them searched the crowds.

Sitting at an outside table for an overflowing chain coffee store Emerald looked for their target. Mercury was less than helpfully slouching in his chair, legs splayed out like he was intoxicated. His hair hidden under a beanie and sunglasses not helping the image. She herself had a scarf on her head covering it completely with green contacts covering her red eyes. They were temporary disguises that they would have to change once they got back to Beacon but it was annoying all the same, though not as annoying as Mercury was being. She glanced over to him as he groaned out another complaint.

"Fucking shit it's hot. The hell couldn't we be camping out in Mistral or something?"

Emerald rolled her eyes. "Wear lighter clothing if you're complaining."

Mercury was in dark brown pants and a long sleeved navy blue shirt with a vest on top. Emerald's own outfit was a sleeveless white tank with tan slacks into boots. Flowy and reasonable for the weather, the two of them fit in just fine. Even Mercury's sunglasses weren't too uncommon in the blaring sunlight of the desert country.

"This is pointless, we already caught him leaving, why would he come here?" Mercury said.

"Where else would he go?" Emerald said in reply.

"I dunno, to Ozpin maybe?" Mercury looked at Emerald over his sunglasses.

Emerald let out a sigh.

"He didn't go before, he wouldn't do it now. Even if he was scared."

Emerald retorted the words Cinder had given to them. When they told her the situation they were reprimanded for their sloppy approach. Though the time of day was ideal, most easy crime happened during the daylight when school was in session and most people were at nine to five jobs instead of late at night when doors were alert for that sort of thing and cops were wandering the city. Still, they hadn't cleared the shop when they entered, that's what caused this. It was a problem, though the situation was ideal. It was entirely possible the target HAD gone to Ozpin, but they were hoping against that. There was nothing they could do if that had happened though how they would have gotten to Beacon before the school was opened for the festival was a little different. The campus wasn't open to normal visitors, it's why they had to pose as a team to get the access they needed.

"Or, we've been sent on a wild goose chase as punishment for our failure." Mercury let out a sigh as he fanned his face.

Emerald hit his leg, partially because that might very well be the case. Still, she continued to look. If there was a chance they could fix this mess, she'd take it, even if this was just a punishment for their incompetence. Roman was searching Vale for their loose end while they sat on this end and Cinder's associate in the White Fang was looking through the loyal faunus in Vale. In the end this was just them covering their bases. There were worse punishments than hanging out in the desert for a few days with Mercury.

"God, don't any of these buildings have AC?" He complained again.

Emerald's brow twitched, maybe worse wasn't the right word. More physically painful, though if this kept up she may very well conveniently lose him. It wasn't like he didn't have his ticket back. If he wasn't useful she very well might have...

"Hey Em, the little girl who handed us our butts. What color was her hair again?" He said, breaking her train of thought.

"Red" She replied as she turned towards the crowd.

Red hair, pink and purple robe like dress, it was what stood out in the short encounter. She hadn't gotten much more from the girl, it hadn't seemed important. Stupid, she had been so stupid, you had to pay attention to details. Her inattentiveness had led to this.

"Dark color right, bit like that?"

He pointed off in the direction of the crowd. Emerald turned, the flow was around the very fringes but she caught sight of it as it was poking out of the sea of color. There was a little girl, sat on top of someone's shoulders. From this distance not many details could be made out, just that she was small, wearing something white and had dark red hair. Emerald frowned and pulled out her binoculars to try and see better, but the crowd had shifted and they were out of sight. Getting up she let out a huff, it probably wasn't them, they probably hadn't actually come.

But details were important, if she let this slip by just because she wasn't willing to follow up, she wouldn't be able to look Cinder in the face when they returned. She might not even be willing to return.

"Stay here." Emerald said, looking back at Mercury. "Keep an eye out, I'll be back soon."

"Whatever." Mercury said, looking at her over his sunglasses as he pulled his legs off the table. Emerald let out a sigh and traced the flow to the exit. She had to hurry if she wanted to get close enough to confirm anything.

* * *

 **Lo everyone, gosh everything's been so hectic.**

 **The first part isn't a deliberate way to lengthen this chapter, just that I didn't like how the Runaway ended in the show. It seemed rather abrupt the way they just found Blake and forgot about everything. I actually liked Book 5, simply because of how introspective it was in certain places and the early show could have used more of that.**

 **Anyway, we're finally at Vacao, let's see how things go.**


	33. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

"Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place, where the caravan camels roam.

Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense, it's barbaric but hey, it's home.

With the winds from east and the sun from the west and the sand from the glass is right.

Come on down stop on by, hop a carpet and fly, to another Arabian night."

"You're pretty calm if you have time to compose songs." Tukson said just a little bit snidely.

I rolled my eyes but didn't bother looking down. I couldn't see his expression since both of my legs were around his neck from my sitting position on his shoulders. I'd talked him into carrying me like that because at the very least it gave me a good vantage view of the area to look around the crowds and it looked cuter and more natural than me dragging his reluctant form through the crowd. It was as much of a disguise as any for our somewhat awkward relationship, especially because he was just a bit miffed that I had drugged him. Danny had a similar position on my shoulders, sleeping quietly.

"I didn't compose it. Just remembered it."

Arabia was as good a comparison as any to this place. I'd say it looked like the Land of Wind, but it really didn't. As much as Wind was a desert country it still mostly had the styles and trappings of most of the elemental nations at heart. Especially since despite all else it was still fairly modern. The cream older looking stone was the only similarity to the buildings in Wind. The buildings that lined the narrow street were at least three or four stories tall with glass windows and clear curtains. The bottom levels were mostly shops with full glass displays, normal wooden furniture and electric fans buzzing over the mass sound of the crowds. There was a canopy of cloth stretched towards the very top of the street blocking out the harsh noon sun to create artificial shade for the travelers to go under. There was still dusty wind and shade, but it didn't seem that unpleasant a place to walk had it not been so crowded. It smelled mostly of salt and sweat as bodies pushed through, though occasionally a sweet or savory smell mixed in as we passed the occasional stall or restaurant.

"Awfully busy place though." I said looking around.

"That isn't terribly surprising. The decline of the country has made it shift its economic activities in recent years to making it much more open as a tourist locale. People here have spent a good bit of time and effort inviting people to set up resorts, tour businesses, and other spots of interest to bolster the previously failing economy because of the decline of dust trade." Oobleck took a breath only to sip his coffee before continuing.

"Of course, it is also crowded because most of the stationary population live in or around this area. A series of droughts has made the landscape even less hospitatible to the otherwise hardy folk who live there."

"Droughts caused it, exploitation too." Tukson said with a huff. "Dust trade only declined because all the local mines were picked clean by the other countries who moved in. Then those left behind tried to set up a puppet government beholden to them. It didn't last long."

"Is there no formal government?" I blinked, that was actually a little surprising.

"Not so much as the other kingdoms." Tukson said. "Except for people at Shade Academy and those who play to the tourists, most citizens are nomadic. It's a hard life, but a fair one. If you can survive in Vacuo, you can live in Vacuo."

I let out a snort.

"I see why this is a good place to hide." If you can survive you can live, with no formal government it'd probably be hard for anyone to keep track of anything here. "So what, local law enforcement is done by what? Shade students?"

"It's done by whoever happens to think to stop it." Tukson said.

Oobleck nodded.

"With the exception of the main settlement here most of the civilians are scattered among hundreds of nomadic tribes that wander the desert who do overfoot trade between outposts, usually going from oasis to oasis to do so."

"What do they trade?" I asked.

"Depends on what they find. There are herbs and fruits that grow only in the desert as well as the rare vein of untapped dust." Oobleck supplied. "Also, all evidence suggests that the land of Vacuo was once a lush jungle paradise full of resources even outside the main oasis, as well as past civilizations. There are sometimes whole cities hidden under the sand full of valuable artifacts of the past."

"But that wouldn't be very valuable to take with you, would it?" I said.

"That's where the Society of Archeological Discovery comes in." Oobleck said. "As a collection of some of the finest minds backed by people willing to take the time and effort to rediscover our missing past, the tribes are often enlisted to help us find artifacts and dig sites. There are grants and funds given to people who help us in our endeavors to try and restore the lost history of the world."

"Am I the only one who thinks it's a little ironic that the organization dedicated to digging up the past is called SAD?" I replied.

Tukson snorted.

"Nope, the SAD folks have enough nicknames to last a lifetime. They aren't too terrible to the tribes though, they give good coin and trade goods for what they bring in. Though it has caused some problems."

"Let me guess, treasure hunters with some... flexible morals." I added.

"There are regulations and requirements to successfully claim and register a fine with the Society of Archeological Discovery. They are very thorough with background checks for their vendors." Oobleck gave a sidelong glance towards me. "Though of course, there will always be... alternative ways vendors acquire goods."

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." I said dryly.

"Hey!" Tukson actually shouted. "It ain't perfect but there are good people who live here. Most of the locals here do make an effort to protect the civilians and the tourists from the seedier elements. Besides Menagerie, it's the safest place in the kingdoms to be a faunus."

"Wow, that's really really fucking sad." I replied.

"Do try to watch your language. It would be remiss of us to leave a bad impression on my colleagues. Especially since the both of you are relative unknowns on this mission. It is of the utmost importance that we make a good impression for possible future ventures." Oobleck said this time.

"Cursing is literally the least of your worries wi…. Augh!" I flailed a bit as Tukson took a sudden turn down an alleyway so sharply it threw my balance off. "What are you…?!"

"They're HERE!" Tukson said, his breath ragged. "In the crowd, didn't you…?"

As he spoke, several loud bangs echoed off the narrow stone walls around us. Tukson still moved forward, more from his own momentum than anything as he started to fall. When I jumped backwards I shattered the henge I was holding over my clothing. With a force of will, my kimono unravelled from me and wrapped around Tukson. More shots came from the opposite end of the alley, but I was already moving, hardening the kimono to reflect the bullets. Danny was already off my shoulder and darting towards the attacker. I didn't look back at what he was doing, he could take care of himself. Instead I bolted out of the alley into the street, where I nearly collided with Oobleck.

"Ume what in the…?!" He said.

"Medical office, NOW!" Oobleck only hesitated for a moment before we started moving.

* * *

Bart wasn't unfamiliar with injuries, not just his own but those of civilians. It was a fact of life that sometimes huntsmen weren't good enough. Sometimes mistakes were made, either by the civilians or the huntsman, sometimes grimm broke through a defensive line, sometimes civilians ran into the line of fire, and sometimes huntsmen were simply too late to be of any use.

But he'd never had something quite like this before.

Sitting in the chair in the small clinic he tried to go over the scene to assess how it could have been better handled. It happened so very quickly, in the middle of a populated city. Maybe he should have been more on guard, or maybe have kept a grip on their civilian. Tukson had been jumpy the entire time, but for him to suddenly bolt like that... It didn't make sense and now he was grievously, if not gravely, injured.

It did not help that he was now essentially a sitting duck in this situation as he sat in the waiting room for the results. While he had knowledge of first aid, his doctorate wasn't in actual medicine. He was pushed out by the doctor on call as well as the nurse and Ume herself. He would think she would have been pushed out again if she didn't scream at them about having a healing semblance.

Well, it was close enough to the truth, he supposed, that they let her in.

The truth was he wasn't sure Ume had a semblance related to healing or if she was singularly gifted in aura manipulation. Those who could heal with aura, while exceptionally rare, weren't unheard of, he'd think the doctor was just surprised at first that Ume was so young. He might think her incompetent.

That stopped when Ume produced a medical kit and started listing off medical terms faster than the other doctor could process. Bart knew Ume knew some medicine, he didn't know she was quite that well versed in it. At the very least it impressed the doctor enough for them to willingly let her in to help. He shuddered to think how she might have forced her way otherwise.

Still, even with them moving relatively quickly on the incident he couldn't help but think he made a mistake by agreeing to all of this.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed when the door finally opened and it was the nurse who greeted him.

"Dr. Oobleck" The nurse looked at him for a few moments before she gave a soft smile. "You can come back and see them now."

Bart's breath caught in his throat. He didn't vocalize the question, but the nurse nodded.

"Yes, he'll live." She said as she reached out a hand. He grabbed it, noticing it was small and a bit dusty, likely from the use of gloves.

"I see, that's, that's great." Bart stood, his back stiffer than normal, but straightening up he looked at the doors, then the nurse. "May I?"

The nurse nodded an affirmative and he let out a breath as he headed towards the back.

This wasn't a big clinic, none of the clinics here were very big. There was a larger central hospital locally funded, but this place was closer. So there was only a handful of rooms. He got to the back room which only had three beds, two of them occupied.

Tukson was connected to a heart monitor and an IV, he laid shirtless on the bed, bandages wrapped around him. Ume was on the other bed, dozing in wraps which covered her from head to toe. Her shoes were still on, but the kimono she had wrapped around Tukson when they brought her in was gone as well. As he approached, though, she sat up quickly, shoulders stiff as she looked around. When she spotted him her shoulders relaxed and she laid herself back down.

"Oh, Professor. Good" She let out a yawn. "Keep an eye out, would you?" She then closed her eyes and seemed to promptly fall back asleep.

Blinking, Bart looked at her and approached. Her breathing was even and set like she was sound asleep. The ordeal must have fatigued her a good deal for her to do so readily, though it wasn't that unusual especially since she didn't sleep at all during the flight here. Turning from her he looked at Tukson again. His breathing wasn't ragged either. The heartbeat was steady and from what Oobleck could see he didn't seem to be in any pain. Letting out a sigh, he collapsed back into a chair set at the bedside.

"Dr. Oobleck, good evening. How are you feeling?"

Turning around, he found the doctor instead of the nurse standing there. He was only a bit shorter than Bart, and like the nurse had dark eyes and tanned skin, which were common to the region, with a slight accent to his speech.

"Quite relieved. Thanks to you, doctor for your hard work. I feared the worst when we came in." He said.

The doctor nodded. Glancing at the name tag he saw his name was Dr. Kamese."As you should have been, he was in shock when he came in and had a pierced lung and cardiac trauma. Even after the bullets were removed I wasn't optimistic, especially since some of our supplies were lacking. However the young lady worked greatly to keep him alive, even producing fresh bags of blood for the surgery."

"Blood?" Bart's eyebrows raised.

"She was rather insistant we use it. In all honesty our own supplies likely wouldn't have been enough for the amount of internal bleeding. Still, it was one of the fastest surgeries I've had, and one of the most unusual as well." He said. "But then the nature of semblances has always been a puzzle for the medical field."

"I see. What exactly happened, Doctor? Ume has claimed on numerous occasions to be able to mend her own wounds consciously. I don't think I've ever seen her do so to another person." Bart added.

"It was more than simple mending, it is more like she is a walking medical scan." Doctor Kamese sat himself onto a chair. "She stood next to the charge nurse, her hands pressing to his sides and glowing as she directed me towards the bullets. There were four, two of which shattered inside and the individual pieces had to be removed one at a time. I managed it with her instruction, though during the surgery his pulse rate started to drop because of the trauma and in response she made those bandages of hers wrap around his head and extremities." He looked up at Ume. "And then it evened out, I believe she might have actually been controlling the flow of his blood."

Bart blinked. "Controlling the flow?"

"Yes, his heart was damaged but his pulse continued steadily, the nurse brought to my attention that it was in time with the girl's breathing, whether she noticed it or not. She only stopped when I repaired the damage from the heart and moved to do stitches, citing there wasn't time to deal with that. She touched the wounds with the same glowing hand and when she removed them each time the wound was closed, first on the heart, then the lungs, then the cut for the surgery. From the way it looks the wound may not even scar." The doctor said.

"Incredible." Bart said looking towards Ume. "I suppose the effort wore her out."

"Even if that was the case, the entire situation was amazing." Dr. Kamese paused, "Which is why I have to ask before we speak of anything else, who in the world is she? Where did she come from to have such a gift?"

Taking in a deep breath, Bart shook his head.

"I'm not entirely sure." He knew a bit about her home, but not anything truly specific enough to give a real answer. "She simply appeared out of nowhere, is all we've figured out so far. I suppose the specifics are only something she herself can answer, though I am not sure you will fare well in getting that information out of her."

"That is not good enough. Even if she could only do so once a day or whatever limit she had it would be a miracle worker in any hospital. That man is only alive because she was there and he is not the only person who comes in such extreme conditions." Dr. Kamese said.

"I cannot give you answers I do not have, Doctor." Bart said.

"Are you not her guardian? Could you not persuade her to do so?" Dr. Kamese pressed.

"She has no guardian because, as far as I can tell, she needs no guardian. She acts in her own autonomy and I will not force her either way. Even if she could work miracles, would you force a child to work in a place of such death and blood? With that sort of pressure?" Bart said.

The doctor seemed a bit conflicted. "It seems like such a waste."

Bart let out a breath looking at the Doctor. Maybe it would be a waste, but then Bart really had no idea that potential was even there to be wasted. It really showed that he didn't actually have much of a gauge of what Ume was capable of, which considering all he'd seen was actually rather startling. Still, he had no context for these abilities or even if they would have the time for her to use it at some place like a hospital. Looking at Ume, he watched her sleep soundly. Whatever this was, whatever ability or skill she had, drained her significantly. But she had also been the one who carried Tukson out of the alleyway wrapped in the dress she wasn't wearing while they were on the plane. It was clear that whatever abilities she had did come with costs and limits, even if he didn't know them exactly, though there were a few questions.

"Where was the cloth he was brought wrapped in?"

"The clothing was much destroyed and discarded, though the square cloth was covered in blood so I sent it to laundered with the wr…"

The chair was kicked back as Bart stood. "Where?!"

"The laundry, it's just a level lower wh…"

Bart was sprinting before the man finished. Hopefully he would get there before the unfortunate nurse leveled the bottom level.

It was only when he screamed for the nurse to stop midpress to the button for the wash and he retrieved the blood splattered clothing that Bart calmed down enough to hold the clothing. And it was only as he held the bundle in his hand and saw the black hair scattered over it that he actually collected himself enough that he remembered during this whole event he hadn't seen Ume's cat once since she disappeared after Tukson into the alleyway.

* * *

This hellhole of a country could burn for all Mercury could care.

Not only was it dusty, smelly and miserably hot. It was also an absolutely fucking tacky tourist trap. The crowds coming and going pushing people aside made everything about ten times worse. Mercury could handle crowds, but usually he could also move through them because if you looked pissed enough people just got out of the fucking way. But not here, nooo, everyone was pushing back and forth as they tried to get on with whatever mundane meaningless task they put for themselves.

Also, it had made the line to wait for the bathroom irritatingly long.

As he returned to his seat at the café watching the port, Mercury imagined what it might take to clear out the crowds here. A grimm attack maybe, it might make them flee and clear it, though he doubted one would ever get close enough with the huntsmen from Shade probably having families in the city. A gunshot wouldn't do it, hell, they probably wouldn't even fucking hear it over the noise. That would leave maybe a van plowing through the plaza to do it, though that'd be hard to get too. Maybe there were some behind the port doing deliveries. A bullhead would be easier to get into the crowds, but he didn't know how to pilot those and there were probably guards and shit. Not that they'd really stop him.

So what did that leave? A bomb, that would be doable. It'd be loud and flashy enough that it'd make all the sheep scatter. It'd take out the more annoying ones, but the…

"Get up."

The voice brought Mercury out of his silent plot to clear the plaza to look to a, oh hello what do we have here.

Getting to his feet he took a good look at his attractive but oh so haughty designated partner in crime and he couldn't help but be intrigued at what he saw.

Blood was smeared on the side of her head, likely from her wiping it away from the clotting cut just over her eye, her hair was stained with it as well and the headband was clearly gone. There were additional scratches on her cheeks and neck, though not as deep. She was also visibly limping as she moved forward, one side of her pants shredded, as there were stains from old blood. Aura was stopping active bleeding but it looked like the cut hit one of the arteries. She was only carrying one of her weapons, the other nowhere to be seen and there were several longer slashes cutting down the front of her blouse showing the dark red bra underneath.

"I didn't think you one for lacey underwear." Mercury said, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up." She replied curtly as she walked past him, hand gripping the weapon as she scanned the ground around her and headed into the crowd. He left his coffee on the table as he moved to follow her.

"So what the hell happened to you, did the faunus do this?" He looked at her shoulder, comparing the claw marks.

"No, just, shut up. I'll explain later." Her voice was strained as they continued going through the crowd.

"That isn't useful in the least. The hell happened the hec…"

He paused as Emerald paused and pulled her gun level, shooting out a round in the crowd. There was a brief scream as people moved around them to make room. Huh, guess the gun idea would have worked, though it was not actually that great. Turning, he actually saw what Emerald was shooting at, only to see a man standing shocked backwards as he was picking up a now bullet ridden black and white fuzzy hat, the hell, how could he wear that in this heat?

"What's got you so jumpy?" Mercury asked.

Emerald started moving again, pushing into the crowd and towards the alley. "Again, later. For now, keep your eyes out."

"For what?" Mercury asked as they finally managed to get separated from that damn crowded port.

"Cats."

* * *

 **If your curious about the glove thing, latex gloves leave dust on your hands.**

 **New chapter yay! Leave reviews please.**


	34. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

How do you define a screw up? Honestly, I've described a lot of my life as a series of back to back screw ups. Sometimes I would make it up, sometimes I couldn't and someone else had to pick up the slack, sometimes I had to cover for someone else's failings, but in this case there was no denying what happened here.

I screwed up, and Tukson almost died for it.

There were a ton of little things that led to this moment. Haste was one of them. My speed and reaction time was a strength in battle, but it was not as good a boon in situations like this. It was a knee jerk reaction, the way I went about it. I just wanted to get Tukson to safety as fast as possible. I didn't think Vale was safe, which was fair because that's where he was attacked in the first place. But was Vacuo any better?

Obviously not. While we couldn't be disguised while we were traveling to Vacuo because of the fact we had to use legal passports that identified us, I should have taken caution to do so once we landed. But it didn't occur to me at the time, despite Tukson's distress I ignored the obvious risk and because of that we were ID'd. Because we were ID'd the same person who used an illusion on me before managed to snare Tukson in one which caused him to panic and split himself from the crowd.

That was another problem, I mishandled Tukson.

Tukson was a civilian and for most of this mission I wasn't treating him with the care required for escorting one. I let my own anxiety for the situation show through, which in turn increased his anxiety for his own survival. Even if I was stressed I should have been a reassuring presence for him, an example of calm for him to imitate. Human beings are reactive by their very nature, one person's emotional state can cause a chain reaction to everyone else's, this was how panics start but it was also how it could be averted. A bastion of calm in a storm, that's what an effective escort, bodyguard, leader or anyone in a position of trust to handle a situation was supposed to be and I didn't maintain it.

There was also an issue of equipment. I did not properly equip Tukson to deal with the possibility that he would be damaged. I should have at least found some way to give him some sort of body armor. He was a bulky guy, so it wouldn't have looked out of place on his frame and I'm sure Beacon could have had a spare somewhere. If not, the workshop might have had something I could fit together. But that was left to the wayside because it hadn't occurred to me to do it.

Really the entire situation had been stupid, because it could have been avoided. It was stupid because I had been stupid and I had been stupid for one very important reason.

Being at Beacon had made me complacent.

There really wasn't anything else that could explain it. Beacon wasn't home because at the end of the day, even with the occasional mishap, Beacon was safe. It was safer than anywhere else I'd ever been because the standards were just that much higher. Even without me fighting back I likely could have walked away from anything that happened so far without getting hurt. Heck, I could do so without civilians getting hurt. I was just a little girl, I wasn't considered dangerous here. I could stand by without affecting things and most times no one would die for it.

Which was why this entire situation with Tukson had startled me so.

People had been sent to murder him in broad daylight and that somehow surprised me. Why? That was damn near everyday life back home. The seven families did that all the time in Kirigakure when they were still in power. Just because no one talked about it didn't mean it didn't happen, hell, that's how Gonmaru's parents died. Shinobi fought and killed each other every single day. Bandits attacked caravans and killed civilians. The Jashinist cult still had members acting in Hot Water. It was not unusual for kids in the academy at other villages to routinely die during their training exercises, or even when they were out of it.

And even in this world, the same was likely happening all over the world. Grimm attacks, bandits, treasure hunters, military operations, attacks on faunus by racists, attacks by faunus by the white fang. This world wasn't actually safe but it just felt that way because I'd been shuffled behind the stone walls to one of the safest places in the world. A place where warriors trained.

I'd let myself fall into the routine and now Tukson had almost paid for it with his life. It was kind of sad honestly, it had been so relaxing to not have to worry about that sort of thing back at Beacon. But that was back at Beacon. We weren't at Beacon, we weren't safe behind the walls of Vale, or as safe as one could be where someone was almost murdered.

I couldn't do that here. I couldn't treat this like I had been, this wasn't an outing with Oobleck. This wasn't a field trip or a shopping trip into Vale.

No; this was a mission, and it was time I treated it like one.

Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes and surveyed the area, turning to Tukson first. He was sleeping, his breathing even, the heart monitor beeping quietly. Turning, I stepped off the bed and let my wraps extend all over him as I assessed his condition. Closing my eyes, I let my chakra flow around his body, searching for abnormalities.

The first obvious sign was the anemia, but considering the amount of internal and external bleeding that was bound to happen. Even with the blood we gave him Tukson was a big man, so it wasn't that unusual we fell a little short. His body was already working to produce blood to make up the deficit, but I reached for the bone marrow and gave it a little boost. There was also a small infection near the lungs. Again not unreasonable, I didn't think the clinic caused it during surgery, the instruments looked plenty clean. It may have been just bacterial from the sweat and dirt on his shirt along with, like, the bullet.

Pulling back, I looked around for a medical bag. I wasn't confident enough in my abilities to try and regulate a civilian immune system. I could jumpstart normal healing processes, but immune systems had a lot of potential for negative feedback if you pushed it too hard one way or the other. Wish the others were here, they were better at this.

The entire situation with the operation was close. I'd never treated bullet wounds before, it was a non concern back home and when his pulse started I nearly went into a panic. Thankfully, the doctor was competent and managed to pull all the pieces out, I couldn't believe how many stupid little pieces two of those bullets were in. They had shattered against the ribcage and caused a crack in a couple of them because of the impact. I'd already fixed that during the surgery, I'd cracked enough ribs to know how that went back together with little trouble, but it'd still been stressful. I needed to do more anatomy studies and especially figure out how to better deal with bullet wounds if I was going to deal with injuries like this in the future.

Another thing I failed to get to because of my complacency. I glanced around the room and located my medical bag sitting on the table next to the cot I had slept in. Good. Walking over, I started to look for the appropriate pills as I heard the clicking of footsteps on the ceramic floors. Pausing, I glanced towards the door as I reached for the senbon in the bottom of the bag. Pushing three between my fingers I walked towards the door and stood to the right of it as I waited for the person to approach. I didn't sense an aura, but that didn't mean anything. I didn't sense an aura in the alleyway either. Either they didn't have it awakened or they could suppress it somehow, I couldn't negate that possibility as the door opened.

The nurse took a step in, swiveling her head in the room.

"Where…?"

"Hello." She started at my voice but calmed down immediately. I also moved the senbon from between my fingers and rolled them into a grip in my palm. "Sorry, did I startle you?"

"Only a little." She kneeled down and put her hands on her knees, bunching the fabric of her pale colored scrubs as she put herself at my eye level. "Are you well? You all but passed out after the operation."

"I'm hungry, mostly." I said matter of factly. "I imagine he'll be hungry as well, loss of iron and all that. Do you have any antibiotics on hand? I think he might have gotten an infection from the wounds."

"Oh, I'll put some in the IV." The nurse straightened up and headed towards the cabinets.

"Okay, where's Professor Oobleck?" I asked.

"He's sitting in the front room." She answered absently.

"Thank you, also is there any fire exits to this building, or can you only get down via the stairs?" I asked.

The nurse paused.

"It's an older building, so there's only the stairs."

"Thank you."

I headed out of the room and assessed the rest of the clinic. There were windows, but they were too small for anyone bigger than myself to use as an entrance. There wasn't central air conditioning, just fans set in several rooms. As I entered the front room I looked at Oobleck where he sat in the chair, facing the door that led to the stairs.

"Holding the entrance."

I said it looking at him. He looked up, startled only for a moment, before adjusting his glasses.

"Yes, it seemed pertinent considering the circumstances. How are you and Tukson? The doctor and nurse are very optimistic, but sometimes things happen." He was a little curious as he looked at me. "I heard you were quite useful in the surgery room."

"Closing wounds is simple, extracting bullets is hard. The doctor did most of the work." I glanced up at the clock. It was almost ten now. "So no trouble so far."

"Not so much, though in all the chaos I regret to tell you your cat has gone missing. I attempted to search for him outside the clinic but didn't dare wander far." Oobleck replied.

I waved my hand.

"He's out hunting. It's fine, he'll find us when he's hungry."

"And how exactly would he do so in an unfamiliar city?" Oobleck asked.

"Obviously because he's a cat, Professor." I rolled my eyes. "And there is no place I can go where he won't find me."

This peaked the curiosity in Oobleck's aura, but he didn't comment on it further. Instead he reached into a bag and produced some of my wraps and my bloody kimono.

"I retrieved this before something, well... unfortunate happened to it because of the nurse's good intentions."

I sighed and grabbed it while also moving a wrap off my arm and sorting through it. After a few moments I found a small basin and some bottles of water. Blood was a pain to get out when it dried. Thankfully, I was well acquainted with its removal. I felt the examination and curiosity of Oobleck as I shuffled around the wraps of my arms.

"So you really can manipulate your clothing then." He stated outwardly.

I glanced to him and shrugged my shoulders. The way I wore my clothing I could hold the shifting of my wraps when I had to unravel them to find the proper seal. That way it appeared that I simply pulled whatever item I needed out of my sleeves. It was something I hid, but it didn't matter now. The doctor and nurse had seen me move my wraps during the surgery, so it wasn't like Oobleck would be uninformed.

"It's just a parlor trick." I added.

He didn't reply to that, but his aura shifted and I don't think he entirely believed it. Not that it mattered terribly. I could be subtle with Oobleck though I still promised him a full story. More importantly, we were still in danger. Unnecessarily holding back might very well get us killed.

* * *

When Tukson came to, he bolted upright in the bed gasping as his hands moved towards his chest and felt the bandages. He blinked several times as the sequence of events came back to him. He saw them, white fang in the crowd coming for him, he ran into an alley to get away, he heard a sound, he was in in pain, his chest burning, he was bleeding, he was dying and then…

"Wha, what?" He stared around the room, it looked like a hospital. No, it was smaller and there in the corner was...

"You're awake." Ume glanced at him. "Good, I was going to wake you myself, but if you're up then we can go ahead and leave." She walked to the door and looked at him expectantly.

"I, I…." He looked at her, but the words still failed him.

"Are you in pain?" She asked. This time her voice, he noticed, was just a bit higher, hinting just a bit more emotion.

Blinking, he looked down at his chest, at his body. There wasn't any pain? That wasn't right. He was shot, oh, oh, he was SHOT. His breathing quickened as he touched his chest. He had been shot, he had been, oh god and…

Ume was there. She hadn't been there a moment ago. She had been at the door. Did she walk while he was looking down? He didn't hear footsteps, but he felt the absolutely tiny hand rest against his chest. It still didn't hurt but still he stared at it, a light glow shining from that hand.

"You seem to have recovered well." She looked up at him, her eyes catching his. The panic subsided in his chest as the confusion set in. Still, she stepped back and her posture changed. "Now get out of bed."

The words hit him a bit strangely. It wasn't the voice that was strange, but the tone. Ume had a couple of tones, a normal conversation tone, a teasing tone, sometimes she even squeaked when she was startled which was amusing in its own way with how high her voice was naturally. This wasn't that at all, it was a tone he recognized but not expected from a small girl. It was a commanding tone that had just issued an order. What was more, he found himself standing even as he pondered this because of how natural it seemed to do so.

She nodded as he got to his feet and she moved towards the door.

"Follow." Same tone, but his reaction was less instinct, or at least seemed to be. He was still confused, so much didn't make sense, so he followed because it seemed something he could latch onto even in his state.

The floor was cold on his feet, making him realize he was missing shoes along with his shirt. The situation was quickly remedied as Ume gave him new clothing along with a canteen. His throat was so dry when he got enough wits to even think about it. He dressed in a small bathroom and when he exited Ume looked at him and nodded. She then pulled something out of her sleeve and walked behind him. He looked behind him when she did so, but in his peripheral vision he could see his reflection as the paper was set on his spine. He saw as, with a blink, he was looking at his reflection, then he was looking at a stranger. No, not a stranger, but... his skin, it had gone from its normal tone to several shades darker, it was almost dark as his hair, no, it was as dark as his hair. No, his hair was lighter now, the same color as his skin, the same color as the iris of his eye.

Ume looked in the mirror and nodded.

"Right, well that's that."

She herself reached into a sleeve and set a similar seal on her chest. She went the same color, a dark brown that seemed to replace her vibrant hair and grey eyes. She mumbled something about working on color variation as she did a weird sign and her clothing changed from the strange dress she preferred to slightly baggy pants and shirt. She examined herself in the mirror and checked her teeth, turning, moving her hair about and such before looking at him and nodding, heading out of the bathroom.

The surrealness of the situation held Tukson for a few seconds before he stumbled out of the bathroom, his voice coming once more.

"What, what just happened, what are we…?"

He was stopped when he saw Oobleck standing in the front room looking confused.

"Excuse me, I didn't know that there were any other patie…"

"Professor, flattering as that is. We should go." Ume cut him off and he paused, adjusted his glasses and blinked a few times before coughing.

"Oh, I see, it was just a startling change." The man turned to look at Tukson and after scanning for a few moments nodded. "Well, I suppose that is appropriate. I doubt anyone would pick you out of a crowd again as easily. Though I do have several questions about this development I shall hold in until a later time. We should make haste if we want to make our appointment."

"Well, wait just a moment." Tukson said, finally grounding himself enough to actually assess the situation. "What the, how the, and the, the…" He looked at them and shouted this time. "I was SHOT!"

"Yeah." Ume said flatly. "Because you ran away from us. Now you're better, and we're leaving."

"But, but, I was shot. I can't just, did, or, did you awaken my aura?" Tukson spun around and flexed his fingers. He didn't feel that much different, but to recover from something like that...

"No." Ume replied again. "And I don't think I'd consider that unless we were truly desperate. You'd be a beacon for grimm with how jumpy you are."

"But, but, I was shot!?" He looked at her, then the professor. "How, why? It, I'm not…"

"You're not helping right now." Ume replied. "But more importantly, you're not safe. We're still in the capitol. Now we're leaving, you follow, good. Now let's go."

Ume started heading towards the door and Tukson held out a hand still. But not moving immediately. He only did so for a moment before Oobleck, the Beacon professor stepped forward.

"I understand your distress, but she is quite right. We are on a time limit. If you wish to further discuss it we can do so in transit, as we will be spending a lot of time together when we go to the ruins." Oobleck replied.

"The, the dig?" Tukson paused and blinked. "But... I thought I was going to separate from you."

He had relatives he could find in the city and disappear with. That was the plan once they got here, but now...

"Until we have determined or dealt with the threat we have deemed it safer for you to stay with us for now." Oobleck added.

"But I need to disappear. I can't just tag along, what'll happen afterwards?"

Taking a step back, he tried to think of his options. Could he, could he run, or could he…

A hand was put on his shoulder.

Professor Oobleck was just a bit taller than him, but otherwise unimpressive in stature. Still, he could feel a solid grip on his shoulder and past the round glasses he saw for a moment something he recognized from some of the more battle hardened members of the fang.

This man may have been a teacher, an academic, but he was also a warrior. He was a warrior who could take him from this clinic and there wasn't much Tukson could do about it.

Still, the grip loosened as Oobleck's features relaxed.

"I am going to have to ask that you trust in us a bit more right now. We failed to account for the human aspect of this assignment. You do not trust us, so when you panicked you sought refuge away from the threat. I apologize if things seem so out of control, but understand we can protect you, so I would personally ask that you trust in our ability to do so." He turned away from him. "Especially since if Ume was not here, that first failure would have ended your life."

"Ume?" Tukson asked, what did Ume do?

He didn't remember, he remembered being shot, being moved. But not the surgery. But what could she have done? She had a wind semblance. He was sure of it after he saw her knock those assassins out of his shop. It was why she could move, well, practically fly so maybe it was because she got him to recovery so fast.

Even then, she did get him away the first time.

"I, I'm still..."

The door to the stairs opened and Ume appeared. This time her tom cat was on her shoulders. Tukson blinked a couple of times when he noticed him. The black and white cat hadn't been present when she woke him. He also noticed his fur was a bit off. Walking forward, he looked at the cat and touched it, it rubbed it's head into his hand and he noticed the way the fur flaked and chipped. Removing his hand he saw the faint dry red flake.

"Is that dried blood?"

"It's not his." Ume dismissed the concern. "He probably just killed some vermin. Anyway, we need to get going. We have a time table to keep."

"I suppose." Tukson said, looking back at Oobleck. "But what's the plan from here?"

"We can talk on the way." Ume's voice was getting a tad annoyed. "But if we miss our window we can't very well keep you safe. Now come on."

She started down the stairs, but this time stepped down and waited for him to follow. He looked at her in front and Oobleck behind. Unconsciously his hand went back to his chest as the uncertainty gripped him, but he quashed it as he stepped forward.

Was this a good idea? He didn't know. But he also knew that staying wasn't a good idea either. He'd almost died and now, if he wanted to keep living he'd have to keep moving. To where, he didn't know, with who, he wasn't sure, but he did know the one thing.

He'd done this twice already so far, and both times he was pulled out of that, it seemed, by the girl in front of him. He knew he couldn't rely on her forever, but in the desert you knew quickly you took what help you could get.

* * *

The Society of Archeological Discovery was apparently a place with good resources, or at least one that managed to get a decent amount of local support. The building we went to find Oobleck's colleagues was a big one and seemed to be dedicated entirely to them, which was rare. All the buildings, restaurants and places in Vacuo seemed to be broken up between multiple different tenants. Even the clinic we went to was just the top floor of a four story building that held a dry cleaners, a small general store, a hair salon, a restaurant, as well as additional space for offices. Though we didn't see the building past the waiting room and we didn't have to wait that long.

Three people came out to meet with us. One was a shorter man who looked a little like Port in that they were both probably in their fifties or so, both had a fair complexion, white hair, a mustache and a good bit of pudge. Though in terms of actual build it was completely different, Port being powerfully built from top to bottom had thick and powerful legs and arms to go with his pudge, making him more a rectangle with a slight bulge than an apple. This guy was more of an apple with a round face and a double chin. He was dressed in tan slacks and a button up shirt with a vest covered in pockets and a wide brim hat. Probably to prevent sunburn.

The other two looked more local than him. One was a man who looked to be in his twenties or so with darker skin, brown eyes, I couldn't see his hair because it was tucked in head cover that went with a flowy tan robe over a pair of military green cargo pants that went into sturdy boots. He also had a scimitar at his side, so probably some muscle. That was good at least.

The last person was a young woman, late teens to early twenties. She was in jeans, boots, and a cream tank top, but she had a long dark green scarf over her shoulders, she was a bit lighter than the other man, but still much darker in complexion than the pudgy man with a bob of brown hair with light blue tips. Her eyes were interesting, very light green with streaks of light blue. She was carrying a large pack of things.

"Good morning Albus, it has been such a long time since I've seen you. I trust you've done well in your recent research on the past civilizations. I saw your recent paper in the quarterly and was impressed with the detail of the content." Oobleck greeted the older man with a handshake, which he returned.

"Bart, I couldn't have done it without your field reports as reference." Albus looked from him to me and Tukson. "Are these your mysterious companions for the trip? I thought you said you were only bringing one."

"Well, yes, but circumstances required that we take on an additional person. I am sure we can always use the extra hands, yes?" Oobleck added.

"Ah yes, I suppose." Albus looked at Tukson for a moment then turned to me. "Though if you really needed someone to watch this little girl, we can surely leave her at the university. It is not usual for relatives of the staff to stay during missions when they have nowhere else to go. It would certainly be saf…"

"Actually, sir." I let the word draw out to try and calm myself down. "I think you have a mix up. I was supposed to be on this dig, our add on is him." I gestured my head to Tukson.

Albus let out a hardy laugh.

"What an imaginative girl, and you speak so well. Is that a Mistralian accent? I am sure they have tons of Mistrali story books at the academy. It wouldn't be too unpleasant even if you don't want to be separated from your guardian."

Oobleck had stepped forward.

"Actually Albus, she is correct. This is the companion I told you about, the one who had the unique carrying capacity necessary to…"

"Surely you jest." Albus actually stepped forward and went down a knee. "Such a small girl would surely not be suff…" He was mid reach as he was trying to touch and ruffle my hair. I grabbed his wrist and held it there.

He blinked for a moment before looking at me. It probably seemed strange, my hand as small as it was didn't completely wrap around his wrist, but I still held it easily to arrest the attempt.

"Why, that's quite a grip you have there, young lady."

"Yes, sir." I said, my voice flat. "Would you like it back?"

He paused, seemed to consider that, though he didn't push against the grip.

"If you would be so kind."

I let go of his wrist.

"Are you going to introduce yourself, or should I also call you Albus?" He looked at me then let out another laugh. "Ah yes, I see, alright. You're in huntress training, aren't you? Well, young huntress, I am sorry I underestimated you. My name is Albus Alpein. What is yours?"

"Ume." I replied.

"Alright Miss Ume, I should have known. The capabilities Oobleck talked about for transport is obviously a semblance. What year are you in school?" He asked.

"I'm thirteen." I said, deflating a bit as his tone changed. He was still a bit patronizing, but maybe a little less so.

"So first year of the primary, yes I see." He turned and pointed to the other young man. "That there is Shyam, he's actually a fully graduated hunter. I'm sure if you ask he can give you some tips for school."

I looked from Albus to Shyam, who didn't say anything but just nodded, his face passive.

Albus then turned to the young woman.

"And this is my assistant, come introduce yourself."

"Hello." The girl walked over and kneeled down. "My name is Opal, it's so nice to meet you. I heard from Professor Alpein that we'd be having company, I didn't think it'd be someone so cute." She turned to face Tukson. "Is that your father?"

Tukson actually seemed to react and held up a hand.

"No, um, actually we're just, friends. I wanted to come along because I was um, thinking of writing a book. The protagonist is an archeologist, and well, you know the best stories come from real life."

I turned towards Tukson who turned away.

"And um, I'm Tukson."

"A book starring an archeologist. Now that sounds grand." Albus lit up. "There is so little interest in the field nowadays. People saying some nonsense like people should only look forward, but maybe that would be a good way to renew interest." Albus stood and turned to Tukson. "Maybe when you're finished you can let me give it a read, make some suggestions."

Scratching his brow Tukson looked at the energetic man. "I suppose I could. Though, I was told we were in a hurry here."

Albus seemed to pause.

"Ah, yes, we need to hurry to get our rentals for our appointment, then we need to head out. There's only so much time we can waste here with idle chit chat. Though I do think we should certainly talk more about that book while we travel."

"Well, it's more of an outline right now." Tukson replied. "Also, it has a faunus protagonist, and I don't know how well the reception will be."

"Oh, a faunus. That sounds like a great way to stir conflict. It's such a different culture created by the counter movements against the larger governments. I'm sure it'll create waves if it could be popular. People underestimate the power of good literature and it'll certainly reach an untapped audience."

Tukson seemed to blink, a little surprised by the reply.

"Why, yes, that is certainly true."

"Well, I'm sure we can talk all about it during the ride." Albus said brightly as he turned to Opal. "Opal, do we have everything ready to go?"

Opal looked at Albus. "Actually, you left you pack in the other room I think, the one with…"

"Ah yes, wouldn't want to leave that behind. I'll just grab that. You have the maps, want to go over things with them while I go retrieve it?" He replied as he started towards the door.

"Yes, Professor." She replied.

"Good girl, I'll be right back." The man did a slow trotting jog to the door and exited. The room certainly felt smaller without him in it as I looked at the other two, then Oobleck.

"So is he always so...?" I asked.

"He has quite a personality. I apologize if you felt slighted by that, Ume." Oobleck said.

I rolled my shoulders and let out a breath. "Well, it's fine."

"He really is excited about all this." Opal said. "We've been having delays on our trips. Getting enough people on hand to do these trips has been increasingly difficult. A lot of it is about just transporting enough supplies, so when he heard from Doctor Oobleck that someone could carry it all in one truck, he jumped at the chance."

"Difficult?" Tukson asked.

"Well, I mean..." Opal turned towards Shyam for back up. He let out a breath.

"Grimm." He replied. "In increasing numbers in recent years."

Tukson blinked and turned away. "Oh."

"But it's okay, Shyam is a great hunter and with Professor Oobleck here as well we'll certainly be able to move. It's an advantage, a small amount of people means we can get out quickly if things become too much." Opal said, though she turned to me. "We'll be perfectly safe, so you don't have to…"

"I'm not worried." I said before looking at the other. "Plus, I'm actually really curious, I've never been to a dig before and I love learning about the past."

Opal seemed more relaxed by that as she got out a map and started to explain our route out. Or maybe she was putting out a front. There seemed to be some bits of tension in her, but not as much as Shyam, who looked to me and Tukson with some apprehension in his aura, probably just thinking we'd get in the way of whatever protecting he'd have to do.

Oh well, I didn't need to be liked for us to work together. Hopefully we could just get through this without any more incidents.

…..

And I just jinxed myself, didn't I.

* * *

 **Off too adventure. I'm gonna try to do once a week updates again, not sure how successful I'll be.**

 **Reviews please.**


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